rf 

6T5 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


ROBERT  ERNEST  COWAN 


NARROW  GAUGE 

RAILROAD  SYSTEM 


A  COMPLETE  SUCCESS. 


ITS  ADAPTABILITY  TO   THE   BUSINESS  OF  THE 
PACIFIC  COAST. 


COMPILED  BY 

WM.   STUART  WATSON, 

'CONSULTING  ENGINEER, 


Formerly  Chief  Engineer  Buffalo  and  Pittsburg  and  Baltimore  and 
Pittsburg  Railroads,  the  California  Central,  the  California  North- 
ern, the  Stockton  and  Copperopolis,  the  Yuba,  San  Francisco, 
Central  Pacific  and  other  California  Railroads.     Member 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Civil  Engineers,  Etc. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 
APRIL,  1872. 


TO    THE    PUBLIC. 


After  having  made  a  thorough  examination  of 
the  NABROW  GAUGE  SYSTEM  of  Railroads  now 
attracting  so  much  of  the  attention  of  railroad 
men  all  over  the  world,  and  finding  that  the 
system  has  been  an  entire  success  wliL-rever 
adopted,  in  furnishing  a  medium  of  transportation 
entirely  adequate  to  the  wants  of  the  most  densely 
settled  countries,  at  a  much  reduced  cost  both  for 
construction  and  maintenance,  I  propose  to  make 
the  construction  of  such  roads  a  speciality,  and 
am  prepared  to  make  surveys  and  estimates  of 
the  cost  thereof;  to  undertake  their  construction 
and  superintendence  ;  to  furnish  all  the  necessary 
rails  and  rolling  stock  at  market  rates,  and  to  give 
all  the  required  information  on  the  subject  neces- 
sary to  a  general  introduction  of  the  system. 
WM.  STUART  WATSON, 

P.  0.,  1749. 

Office,  29  Merchants'  Exchange,  San  Francisco. 


WHAT  WILL  A  NABBOW  GAUGE  KAILEOAD 
ACCOMPLISH? 


This  question  is  daily  becoming  of  more  im- 
portance as  the   necessity  for  railroads   becomes 
more   generally  admitted.      It  has   been   proven 
from  the  experience  of  railroad  men  in  all  coun- 
<o  tries  that  the  railroads  built  on  the  standard  gauge 
^(of  4  ft.  8i  in.  and  upwards),  have  been  vastly  too 
|=  expensive  both  in  their  construction  and  manage- 
2  ment ;  and  although  those  countries  through  which 
^  they  have  been  built  have  been  enriched  by  their 
ff  agency  beyond  all  precedent.     But  experience  has 
proved   that   shareholders   have   had   to  -depend 
almost  solely  on  the  increased  value  of  the  lands 
through  whicn  the  roads  have  been  built;   while 
the  large  amounts  of  subscriptions  to   the  capital 
stocks  that  have  been  advanced  by  shareholders 
not  similarly  situated,  have  been  almost  an  entire 
loss.     If  railroad  men  and  capitalists   who  have 
given  the  subject  uny  consideration  with  the  light 
of  experience  before  them,  will  look  back  to  the 

298985 


early  history  of  railroad  construction,  and  trace 
their  history,  carefully  from  that  time  to  this,  they 
cannot  fail  to  see  that  the  system  has  been  vastly 
more  expensive  than  necessary,  and  will  also 
become  convinced  that  to  continue  the  system 
must  end  in  financial  embarrassments,  and  result 
eventually  in  the  ownership  of  nearly  all  the  rail- 
roads already  built  going  into  the  hands  of  foreign 
bond-holders. 

Yet  our  undeveloped  regions  must  be  opened, 
and  that  they  cannot  be  opened  without  the 
agency  of  railroads  is  as  plain  an  axiom  as  the 
former  is  a  fact.  From  such  a  statement  the  only 
conclusion  that  can  be  arrived  at  is  that  the 
present  system  must  be  changed  for  one  much  less 
expensive  and  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the 
locality. 

It  ought  to  be  engraved  on  the  minds  of  every 
engineer  and  railroad  promoter,  that  every  inch 
added  to  the  width  of  a  gauge  beyond  what  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  the  traffic  to  be  handled, 
adds  to  the  cost  of  construction,  increases  the  pro- 
portion of  dead  weight,  increases  the  cost  of 
working,  and  in  consequence  reduces  the  useful 
effect  of  railroads. 

The  most  important  element  in  the  organization 
of  any  enterprise  is  its  probable  cost;  if  the  busi- 
ness required  to  be  done  will  not  warrant  the 
expenditure,  then  no  prudent  capitalist  will  enter- 


tain  it.  It  seems  to  have  been  heretofore  the 
practice  of  railroad  men  generally  to  ascertain 
how  much  money  could  be  borrowed  on  the 
securities  of  the  road  to  be  built,  rather  than  how 
small  an  amount  the  road  could  be  built  for,  con- 
sistent with  the  speed  and  safety  of  the  transpor- 
tation of  its  business.  If  the  latter  of  these 
propositions  had  been  the  ruling  requirement  in 
the  construction  of  our  railroads  instead  of  the 
former,  a  totally  new  light  would  have  been 
thrown  round  the  system  and  a  totally  different 
result,  financially,  would  have  been  arrived  at. 

The  object  herein  proposed  is  to  show  in  what 
manner  the  cost  of  construction  of  railroads  is 
affected  by  the  gauge  on  which  a  road  is  intended 
to  be  built,  and  to  what  extent  the  maintenance  of 
a  railroad  may  be  and  is  affected  by  the  gauge  so 
adopted ;  and  to  advocate  from  the  experience  of 
the  past  such  a  system  of  railroads  for  the  future 
as  will  place  this  absolutely  necessary  element  to 
the  development  of  any  country,  within  the  reach 
of  the  most  thinly  populated  districts. 

And  in  order  to  make  the  subject  as  intelligible 
as  possible,  and  to  place  the  facts  as  far  as  can  be 
ascertained  before  the  public,  I  shall  avail  myself 
of  all  the  information  withim  my  reach,  which 
will  comprise  reports  from  Great  Britain,  Germany, 
Sweeden,  Norway,  Russia,  Canada,  the  United 
States  and  India,  which  I  have  taken  the  pains  to 


collect  from  the  most  reliable  sources.  In  a  paper 
of  this  nature  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  advance 
any  new  Idea,  the  ground  has  been  so  often  and  so 
ably  covered,  both  by  American  and  European 
engineers  in  their  arguments  during  the  "  war  of 
the  Ganges,"  and  since,  that  all  the  theory  has 
been  exhausted  that  the  subject  is  capable  of.  It 
may  be  claimed  however  that  the  conclusions  then 
arrived  at  were  conclusions  of  theory  only,  which 
time  alone  could  establish  the  truth  of. 

Nearly  thirty  years  have  elapsed  since  these 
theoretical  arguments  were  had.  During  these 
thirty  years  the  actual  demonstrations  of  each 
theory  has  surely  had  time  to  be  sufficiently 
developed. 

Under  these  theories,  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty-two  thousand  miles  of  railroads  have  been 
built,  and  their  actual  yearly  workings  and  earn- 
ings have  become  a  matter  of  history  in  all 
countries.  And  we  now  find  that  the  theory  then 
advanced  and  limited  to  4  ft.  8^  in.  as  a  minimum 
gauge  should  have  been  extended  to  even  24  inches. 
Consequently  the  only  argument  that  can  or  ought 
now  to  be  advanced  must  be  that  of  experience 
derived  from  the  absolute  working  of  the  system 
which  has  by  almost  common  consent  been  acted 
on  for  twenty  years. 

I  therefore  propose  to  avail  myself  of  all  the 
information  that  has  been  within  my  reach  in 


7 

bringing  forward  the  argument  that  a  thirty-six 
inch  gauge  is  all  that  is  neccssarg  for  any  line  of 
railroad  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  or  even  in  any 
country. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  go  back  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  railroad  era  and  review  the 
arguments  then  held  in  the  interests  of  the  new 
proposed  gauges,  the  wide  (7  ft.)  and  the  narrow, 
(4  ft.  8i  in.)  The  controversy  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  ablest  European  and  American 
engineers  for  nearly  two  years,  and  ended  by  the 
advocates  of  each  system  building  their  roads 
according  to  their  individual  theories. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  4-81  GAUGE. 

George  Stevenson  advocated  the  4  ft.  91  in. 
gauge,  because  the  wagons  of  England  had  axles 
of  that  length,  and  when  the  different  parts  of  the 
"  Rocket  "  were  put  together,  owing  to  some  un- 
explained cause,  it  proved  to  be  only  4  ft.  8£  ins. 
The  whole  railway  world  then  followed  the  exam- 
ple, because  that  engine  made  14  miles  per  hour 
and  the  other  competing  engines  made  not  more 
than  half  that  distance,  hence  the  present  system. 

I.  K.  Brunei,  the  most  eminent  engineer  then 
living,  brought  forward  the  seven-foot  gauge  and 
the  low  flanges  of  the  Great  Western  in  England, 
which  have  long  since  been  abandoned.  Other 


8 

engineers  of  high  repute  advocated  all  the  means 
between  these  two  extremes,  but  no  one  of  them 
ever  imagined  that  the  smallest  of  their  proposed 
gauges  was  wider  than  the  experience  of  thirty 
years  of  operation  would  demonstrate  to  be  the 
true  one. 

It  is  interesting  to  examine  the  conclusions  that 
each  party  arrived  at,  and  the  special  advantages 
that  each  set  forth.  It  was  argued  that  the  broad 
gauge  (7  ft.)  was  the  most  advisable.  First,  from 
the  large  capacity  of  the  wheel  base,  consequent 
steady  motion  of  rolling  stock  and  a  high  rate  of 
speed.  Second,  increased  facilities  for  using  more 
powerful  locomotives,  and,  thirdly,  a  low  centre  of 
gravity  for  all  rolling  stock. 

The  objections  were : 

First — Increased  cost  of  construction. 

Second — Increased  cost  and  weight  of  rolling 
stock,  and  increased  liability  of  axles  breaking,  on 
account  of  their  greater  length. 

Third — Increased  friction  of  bearings  in  passing 
curves. 

As  regards  the  first  of  these  objections,  it  was 
argued  that  the  cost  of  construction  was  only  in- 
creased in  the  7  ft.  gauge  about  seven  per  cent,  in 
earth-works  and  land  over  the  4  ft.  8i  in.  gauge. 
This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  theoretical  discus- 
sion only,  as  none  of  the  eminent  men  engaged 
in  the  controversy  had  any  experience  in  the 


actual  construction  of  railroads,  and  it  is  a  curious 
coincidence  that  the  same  arguments  that  were 
advanced  against  the  then  narrow  gauge  (4  ft- 
8zin.)  and  in  favor  of  the  wide  gauge  are  identi- 
cal with  those  now  held  against  a  reduction  of  the 
present  standard  to  three  feet. 

As  to  the  objection  of  increased  cost  of  con- 
struction in  earth-works  being  only  seven  per 
cent :  Experience  proved,  during  the  construction 
of  roads  under  these  two  theories  (7  ft.  and  4  ft. 
8i  in.  gauges)  that  the  cost  of  earth-works  and 
land  damages  on  the  wide  gauge  railroads 
as  compared  to  the  cost  of  those  items  on 
the  Northwestern  (a  4  ft.  8i  in.  gauge)  to  be  as 
146  to  100. 

As  to  the  various  points  of  objections  held 
against  the  wide  gauge,  both  as  regards  increased 
cost  of  construction,  increased  weight,  and  an 
enormous  increase  in  the  operating  expenses  and 
wear  and  tear  of  all  portions  of  the  equipment : 
The  advantage  proven  to  be  so  evident  in  favor  of 
the  4  ft.  8^  gauge  that  within  ten  years  of  actual 
operations  no  more  wide  gauge  railroads  were  ever 
constructed,  and  many  that  had  been  constructed 
were  reduced  to  the  standard  gauge  as  soon  as 
possible. 

As  regards  the  second  objection  held,  then, 
against  a  broad  gauge,  that  of  increased  cost  and 
weight  of  rolling  stock  :  It  has  been  fully  demon- 


10 

strated  in  practice  that  the  locomotives  and  rolling 
stock  of  the  standard  (4  ft.  81  in.)  gauge  have 
been  ample  for  all  purposes  of  transportation  and 
have  been  an  entire  success — except  as  to  the  cost 
of  construction  and  maintenance,  which  time  only 
could  demonstrate. 

From  that  time  until  within  a  few  years  it  has 
been  the  practice  of  railroad  men  and  engineers  to 
take  it  for  granted  that  a  perfect  gauge  had  been 
established,  and  whenever  the  subject  has  been  at 
all  discussed  or  questioned  it  has  generally  been 
concluded  that  it  would  be  advisable  to  let  the 
system  remain  in  its  present  condition  rather  than 
to  risk  the  negotiation  of  the  securities  of  any  im- 
portant project  by  making  a  change  in  the  system 
heretofore  adopted. 

Occasionally  railroad  companies  advocating  wide 
gauges  in  various  countries  of  Europe,  and  also  in 
America — for  instance,  the  railroad  system  of 
Russia  and  such  roads  as  the  New  York  and  Erie 
were  commenced,  and  having  been  projected  on  a 
certain  theory  of  construction,  could  not  retrace 
their  steps  and  were  compelled  to  prosecute  their 
works  to  a  successful  conclusion  ;  but  such  as  could 
retrace  their  steps  without  loss  mostly  have  done 
BO,  many  years  ago. 

Many  instances  have  occurred  where  works  of 
great  magnitude  have  been  commenced  on  the 
wide  gauge  system,  the  projectors  have  had  the 


11 

foresight  to  retrace  the  steps  already  taken  and 
adopt  the  narrow  gauge  system  instead. 

Russia  has  abandoned  the  wide  gauge  Astern, 
and  although  their  roads,  most  of  them  at  least, 
that  have  been  built,  will  continue  to  be  worked 
for  a  time,  yet  all  new  roads  being  constructed  in 
that  country  are  being  constructed  on  the  small 
gauge  system.  Sweden  and  Norway  are  also  re- 
ducing the  width  of  their  roads  to  a  standard  of  3 
ft.  7  in.  gauge,  or  to  such  a  standard  as  the  busi- 
ness may  require,  the  gauge  being  the  first  consid- 
eration in  constructing  their  roads. 

For  the  sake  of  argument  we  will  admit  that 
the  present  system  has  satisfied  all  the  require- 
ments that  was  claimed  for  it,  and  that  it  has  been 
the  means  of  developing  cheap  and  quick  commu- 
nication, as  compared  with  the  stage  and  lumber 
wagon,  to  an  extent  never  dreamed  of  by  its  first 
projectors,  increasing  traffic  and  business  to  an  al- 
most unprecedented  extent.  Yet  we  find  the  ob- 
jection raised  that  the  returns  for  the  capital 
outlay  to  stockholders  is  entirely  inadequate  ;  so 
much  so  that  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  procure 
subscriptions  to  the  capital  stock  of  any  railroad 
enterprise,  however  much  needed  or  however 
promising  the  project  majr  appear.  Any  promoter 
of  a  railroad  enterprise  knows  from  experience 
that  the  great  objection  he  meets  with  is,  that  the 
«tock  of  the  road  will  be  worthless  ;  not  because 


12 

the  project  itself  will  not  pay,  but  because  the  sys- 
tem compels  the  corporation  to  borrow  money  on 
its  bonds  at  large  rates  of  interest  and  at  a  ruin- 
ous discount.  These  bonds  are  negotiated  at  a 
fraction  of  their  par  value,  and  must  be  protected 
from  the  earnings  of  the  road  or  a  foreclosure  will 
follow,  the  necessary  consequence  of  which  is  that 
the  stock  is  worthless,  and  that  the  roads  built 
cost  much  more  than  they  could  be  built  for  if 
built  for  cash  subscriptions. 

WHAT  THE  STANDARD  GAUGE  HAS  COST. 

It  has  seemed  heretofore  that  there  was  no 
other  way  to  build  railroads  through  the  unsettled 
portions  of  the  United  States,  except  through  the 
medium  of  issuing  bonds,  due  years  hence,  at 
high  rates  of  interest,  the  effects  of  which  we  now 
see  in  our  enormous  bond  list  and  consequent  high 
rates  of  transportation.  If  at  the  commencement 
of  the  construction  of  our  present  system,  some 
plan  more  economical  had  been  adopted,  the  bonded 
debt  of  our  60,500  miles  of  railroad,  most  of 
which  has  now  but  ten  years  to  run,  amounting  to 
$2,200,000,000,  would  not  now  have  existed,  or  if 
it  had  existed,  would  have  been  to  a  limited 
extent  only,  and  would  have  long  since  disap- 
peared, and  railroads  would  have  been  clear  of 
debt  and  paying  dividends  to  the  stockholders  at 
thirty  per  cent,  or  more.  And  while  this  state  of 


13 

things  has  existed,  and  must  exist  until  the 
system  is  changed,  it  is  admitted  by  all  those  who 
are  acquainted  with  the  Pacific  Coast,  that 
hundreds  of  miles  of  railroads  should  and  must 
be  built  to  open  our  undeveloped  regions.  Yet  the 
present  system  cannot  be  applied  from  its  exorbit- 
ant cost;  there  are  few  settled  countries  that  can 
bear  the  expense  of  transportation  of  the  present 
system  at  $44,600  per  mile;  much  less  those 
partially  settled,  although  known  to  be  almost 
inexhaustible  in  wealth;  and  while  knowing 
that  fact,  they  also  are  aware  that  to  attempt  the 
development  by  the  present  system  will  entail  a 
debt  of  such  magnitude  as  to  make  it  almost 
impossible  for  any  prudent  business  man  to  make 
the  attempt  to  carry. 

It  is  claimed  that  on  the  grounds  of  first  cost 
alone,  if  on  no  other,  that  this  system  of  railroads 
should  be  abandoned,  for  some  other  much  less 
expensive  in  construction,  the  first  cost  of  which 
could  be  provided  for  by  the  section  of  country  to 
be  benefitted,  without  anticipating  the  revenues  of 
the  road  for  at  least  one  generation. 

There  are  many  other  and  more  cogent  reasons 
why  the  system  has  outlived  its  usefulness  and 
ought  to  be  changed,  which  will  be  brought  forward 
in  the  argument  of  what  the  system  of  railroads 
for  the  future  ought  to  be. 

If  from    the    foregoing    investigations    of    the 


14 

absolute  workings,  financially  and  otherwise,  of 
these  companies  from  whose  reports  the  conclusions 
deducted  here  have  been  drawn,  are  anything-  like 
correct,  then  it  is  evident  that  any  railroad  or 
system  of  railroads  that  can  be  adopted  on  gauges 
from  two  to  three  feet  in  width  will  be  productive 
of  immense  saving  in  cost  of  construction  and 
economy  in  operating,  and  railroads  would  then 
be  within  the  reach  of  sparcely  settled  countries, 
and  would  be  especially  adapted  to  the  Pacific 
.  Coast. 

STOCKS. 

It  has  been  ascertained  that  of  all  the  railroad 
stocks  issued  for  the  construction  of  American 
railroads,  amounting  to  nearly  $2.500,000,000,  less 
than  one-fifth  has  a  market  value  of  par,  and 
three-fourths  or  more  of  the  whole  are  at  a  market 
discount  of  from  ten  to  ninety  per  cent.  Of  the 
550  railroad  companies  reported  in  1871,  not  more 
than  200  of  them  have  paid  dividends  on  their 
stock  during  that  year. 

On  these  grounds  alone,  if  no  other  can  be 
adduced,  it  seems  that  railroad  men  should  at- 
tempt to  inaugurate  some  other  system,  which 
would  secure  to  stockholders  that  return  to  which 
their  expenditures  entitle  them,  and  which  the 
business  of  the  country  demands  and  is  compelled 
to  pay  for.  It  is  evident  that  such  a  system  can 


15 

be  found,  and  that  it  is  being  daily  established  in 
the  reduction  of  the  width  of  the  present  gauge. 
Lines  of  railroads  are  being  constructed  all  over 
the  world,  on  gauges  of  from  1  ft,  Hi  in.  to  3  ft. 
and  7  in.  in  width,  which  are  giving  entire  satis- 
faction to  their  projectors  and  the  public. 

As  to  the  third  requirement,  that  the  stability  in 
movement  at  such  rates  of  speed  as  the  dispatch  of 
public  business  and  the  safety  and  comfort  of  passen- 
gers may  demand. 

One  of  the  principal  arguments  held  against  the 
narrow  (4  ft.  8i  in.)  gnuge  of  1844,  and  in  favor 
of  the  7  ft.  gauge,  was  that  the  then  narrow 
gauge  (of  4  ft.  8i  in.),  now  in  almost  universal 
use,  was  defective  in  "  wheel  base,"  the  absence  of 
which,  on  account  of  the  supposed  lateral  oscilla- 
tion, would  prevent  a  high  rate  of  speed  and 
endanger  the  safety  of  the  passengers.  It  will  be 
again  observed  that  the  same  argument  is  held 
now,  as  against  a  reduction  to  any  smallei  gauge 
than  that  of  4  ft.  8i  in. 

The  experience  of  the  last  twenty  years  of  the 
working  of  4  ft.  8|  gauges  has  satisfactorily  set  at 
rest  the  objection  on  this  ground,  both  as  to  an 
insufficient  "  wheel  base "  and  oscillation.  In- 
deed, the  theory  advanced  then  could  not  fail  to 
establish  the  fact  as  claimed,  and  as  will  be 
proved  now,  that  the  oscillation  of  any  train 


16 

operating  on  a  4  ft.  8i  in.  gauge,  must  be  abso- 
lutely less  than  that  incident  to  a  7  ft.  gauge,  and 
by  parity  of  reasoning  must  be  less  on  a  small 
gauge  road  in  the  proportion  as  the  small  gauge 
recedes  from  the  4  ft.  8i  in.  gauge,  at  least  to  the 
limit  proved  of  23i  inches. 

[See  diagram  under  head  "  Theory  of  Oscilla- 
tion."] 

In  less  than  two  years  after  the  "  War  of  the 
Gauges  "  ceased,  the  result  of  actual  working  of 
roads  built  on  the  opposing  gauges  was  established 
to  be  true,  as  claimed  by  the  advocates  of  the  then 
narrow  gauge. 

Thus  another  of  the  supposed  advantages  of  a 
"  wide  "  over  a  "  narrow  gauge  "  was  shown  to  be 
a  fallacy. 

The  fourth  and  fifth  requirements  already  re- 
ferred to  can  probably  be  best  satisfied  by  the 
question : 

"  What  gauge  will  nearest  fulfill  the  require- 
ments of  the  railroad  system  in  the  future?" 

In  order  to  determine  this  question  with  any 
degree  of  certainty,  we  are  happily  placed  in  a 
more  favorable  position  than  were  the  scientific 
men  who  argued  the  question  in  1841  to  1844,  by 
having  experience  in  the  operations  of  the  4  ft. 
8i  in.  gauge  (the  wide  gauge  of  our  times)  as  to 
be  able  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  certainty  to 


17 

apply  a  remedy  for  the  defects  of  the  present  sys- 
tem, and  to  show  what  system  will  be 

THE  RAILROAD  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

It  appears  plain  that  the  railroads  of  the  future 
must  possess  some  other  attraction  than  those  of 
the  past  or  of  the  present,  and  that  they  must  pos- 
sess the  following,  or  some  such  capabilities  : 

First — That  of  smaller  cost  of  construction. 

Secondly — Smaller  cost  in  maintenance  and 
working. 

Thirdly — To  have  the  necessary  stability,  and 
to  run  at  such  rates  of  speed  as  the  public  dis- 
patch, safety  and  comfort  of  passengers  may  re- 
quire. 

Fourthly — Capacity  to  do  the  business  of  the 
country  through  which  they  run;  and, 

Fifthly — To  be  available  for  all  purposes  in 
times  of  war. 

With  regard  to  the  first  and  second  require- 
ments, the  experience  of  railroad  operations  for 
the  last  twenty  years  shows  most  conclusively  that 
the  present  system  is  a  financial  failure,  caused 
principally  from  its  unnecessary  cost  of  construc- 
tion and  management — the  result  of  its  false  sys- 
tem of  finance  and  the  unnecessary  width  of  its 
gauge — in  the  same  manner  and  with  the  same 
result  as  followed  the  seven  foot  gauge  and  its  al- 


IS 

most   immediate   abandonment  for   the  narrower 
gauge  of  4  ft.  8i  in. 

The  third,  fourth  and  fifth  of  these  require- 
ments can  best  be  answered  by  the  actual  opera- 
tions of  the  narrow  gauge  roads  already  built  and 
being  built.  We  will  therefore  give  a  brief  ac- 
count of  those  roads  that  have  already  demon- 
strated the  success  of  the  proposed  system  : 

ROADS  BUILT. 

The  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railroad,  in  Colo- 
rado, three  feet  gauge  and  117  miles  in  length, 
which  has  proved  an  entire  success. 

The  Orangeville  and  Toronto  Bruce  Railroad, 
in  Canada,  of  66  miles  of  three  feet  gauge. 

The  Tifin  road,  in  Ohio. 

The  Sodus  Bay  Railroad,  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  the  projected  system  of  2  ft.  9  in. 
gauges  in  British  India,  consisting  of  from  two  to 
three  thousand,  miles.  Each  of  these  will  be  de- 
scribed under  their  proper  heads. 

The  3  ft.  gauge,  as  established  in  Sweden  on  a 
road  of  23  miles  in  length,  between  Ullinbord  and 
the  Maclar  seaport  at  Koping,  on  the  Maclar  sea, 
which  will  be  hereafter  noticed  ;  also  the  3  ft.  6  in. 
gauge  system  adopted  in  Queensland,  Australia, 
Ceylon,  East  Indies,  Norway,  and  in  Belgium, 
amounting  to  about  one  thousand  miles  already 
constructed,  where  they  are  found  to  give  ample 


19 

accommodation  to  the  business  of  populous  coun- 
tries, and  built  with  the  capital  of  the  country. 
The  2  ft.  6  in.  gauges  that  have  been  built  in 
Northern  Germany,  aggregating  640  miles,  have 
fully  satisfied  all  the  requirements  of  business  of 
that  populous  country  ;  and  lastly,  the  extreme  of 
the  proposed  system,  that  of  the  Portmadock  and 
Fe^tinoig  Railroad,  in  North  Wales,  which  has 
been  operated  on  a  gauge  of  1  ft.  1H  in.  for  19 
years  with  complete  success.  This  road  being,  as 
may  be  supposed,  the  extreme  limit  to  which  the 
proposed  system  is  likely  to  go,  runs  from  the 
coast  at  Portmadock  to  the  town  of  Dinas,  in 
North  Wales.  It  was  originally  built  as  a  tram 
road,  and  the  motive  power  was  horses.  The  bus- 
iness is  that  of  carrying  passengers,  slates  and 
other  freight  between  the  seaport  and  quarries.  It 
has  been  in  operation  for  19  years,  and  is  now 
transporting  400,000  tons  of  freight  and  150,000 
passengers  per  annum.  While  with  an  original 
capital  stock  of  $180,000,  it  has  developed  the  in- 
dustry for  which  it  was  intended,  increased  its  cap- 
ital stock  to  $500,000  and  paid  dividends  of  40 
per  cent,  on  its  original  cost  per  annum. 

RUSSIAN  COMMISSION. 

It  is  probable  that  the  best  evidence  that  can 
be  presented  of  the  absolute  success  of  this 
enterprise  is  the  report  made  by  the  Russian 


20 

Commissioners,  who  were  instructed  to  pivceed  to 
examine  the  workings  of  this  road  and  to  report 
to  their  respective  governments.  The  commission 
consisted  of  the  Duke  of  Sutherland,  accompan- 
ied by  Count  Zchemji,  of  Hungary, 

REPRESENTING   RUSSIA. 

Count  Alexis  Bobrinskoy,  President  Russian 
Imperial  Commission. 

Count  Zarnoiski,  Count  Berg,  Col.  Statkowski, 
Imperial  Engineer  of  Russia. 

Professor  SalofF,  Institute  of  Imperial  Engineers 
of  Russia. 

M.  Raehrberg,  Chief  Engineer  and  manager  of 
the  Nigne-Moscow  Railroad. 

M.  Schuberski,  Superintendent  of  locomotives  of 
the  Wornesch  Rostou  Railroad. 

M.  Kislinski,  Russian  Imperial  Engineer  and 
Inspector  of  Karchof-Crementchay  Railroad. 

M.  Von  Desen,  M.  Sementechymoff,  M.  Sach- 
niffski,  Russian  Imperial  Engineers  Serat  Rail- 
road. 

REPRESENTING   THE    INDIAN  OFFICE,  LONDON. 

Lieutenant-General  Sir  William  Baker,  R.  E. 
K.  C.  B. 

Mr.  W.  T.  Thornton,  Corresponding  Secretary 
Public  Works,  R.  R.  and  Telegraph  Department, 
Indian  Office. 


21 

Mr.  Juland  Danvers,  Government  Director  of 
Indian  Railroads. 

REPRESENTING  BOARD  OF  TRADE. 

Captain  Taylor. 

REPRESENTING  FRANCE. 

M.  Gentry,  President  La  Yenda  Railroad,  M. 
Duval,  Engineer  La  Venda  Railroad,  M.  Krimer, 
Director  Vote  and  Tiflis  Railroad. 

REPRESENTING    SWEDEN. 

M.  Shandberg,  Chief  Engineer  Swedish  Gov- 
ernment. 

REPRESENTING  NORWAY. 

M.  Pihl,  Chief  Engineer  Norwegian  Govern- 
ment. 

REPRESENTING    SWITZERLAND. 

Mr.  Carl  Burkhardt,  Chief  Engineer. 

REPRESENTING   NORTH   GERMANY. 

Mr.  Malrang,  Engineer ;  Mr.  Livingston  Thomp- 
son, Managing  Director  Festinoig  Railroad ;  Mr. 
Fleming,  of  Bombay,  India  ;  Mr.  George  Allen, 
Chief  Engineer,  India ;  Mr.  Power,  Vice  President 
Vote  and  Tiflis  R.  R ;  Mr.  G.  B.  Cranley,  Con- 
tractor, Mexico ;  Mr.  James  Samuel,  Chief  En- 
gineer and  Director  R.  R.  Construction  Associa- 
tion, London  ;  Mr.  Toline,  do ;  Mr.  A.  P.  Hobson, 


22 

Secretary  do  ;  Mr.  E.  S.  Dallas  ;  Mr.  Cargill ;  Mr. 
Preston,  London  &  N.  W.  R,  R ;  Mr.  Patchett, 
Superintendent  London  &  N.  W  R.  R ;  Mr.  Elias. 
Generall  Manager  Cambrian  R.  R  ;  Mr.  Brough- 
ton,  do  Eid  Waha ;  Mr.  Walker,  Locomotive  Su- 
perintendent Cambrian  R.  R  ;  Mr.  Roberts,  Chief 
Engineer  Brecon  &  Merthyr  R.  R  ;  Mr.  Caulfield, 
do  Neath  £  Brecon  R.  R ;  Mr.  Henshaw,  Gen- 
eral Manager  Brecon  &  Merthyr  R.  R. 

REPORT. 

FIRST  SERIES  OF  EXPERIMENTS. 

Train  hauled  by  a  Farlie  Engine,  "  Little 
Wonder,"  19  tons  10  cwt. 

Feb.  11,  1870,  started  from  Portmadoc  with  the 
"  Little  Wonder  "  and 

TONS.  CWT.   QRS 

90  Slate  Wagons,   weight 57  j.10  0 

7  Passenger  cars  and  Baggage  car...  13     10  0 

57  Passengers 4     00  0 

Locomotive  and  Tender...  ...19     10  0 


Total 94     00       0 

Engine  Double   bogie  8  3-16  in.  cylinders  x  13 
in.  stroke. 

Wheels  2  ft,  4  in.  in  diameter. 
Pressure  of  steam  150  Ibs.  to  the  square  inch. 
Steepest  grades  1  in.  74,  (71.33  per  mile.) 
Shortest  curves,  If  chs.,  (115.5. per  radius.) 


23 

On  the  sharpest  curves  and  steepest  grades,  the 
engine  in  full  gear,  the  average  speed  was  14£ 
miles,  exclusive  of  stopping  and  starting.  Length 
of  train,  854  feet. 

It  was  observed  that  on  curves  of  115.5  ft 
(If  chs)  radius,  and  at  a  maximum  speed  of  30 
miles  per  honr,  there  was  very  little  perceptible 
oscillation  or  movement  of  the  engine  or  in  the 
cars,  and  by  no  means  so  much  as  is  usually  felt, 
even  on  comparatively  easy  curves  on  ordinary 
railways,  and  less  at  high  speed  than  at  low  speed. 

The  super  elevation  of  the  outer  rail  on  the 
sharpest  curves  was  3  inches. 

(Feb.  12.  Experiments  with  "  Little  Wonder," 
19i  tons.) 

With  "  Welsh  Pony,"  10  tons. 

With  "  Mountaineer,  8  tons. 

To  test  the  steadiness  of  running  on  the  Traeth- 
mawr  embankment,  on  the  "  Welsh  Pony  "  and 
u  Mountaineer." 

On  the  "  Little  Wonder,"  when  riding  on  the 
foot-plates,  no  perceptible  vertical  or  lateral  oscil- 
lation, but  a  smooth,  floating  movement ;  when 
riding  on  the  bogie  frames,  slight  lateral  oscillation, 
but  less  than  on  the  other  engines. 

The  oscillation  of  the  Fairlie  engine  being  con- 
fined to  the  bogie,  the  influence  of  impact  on  the 
rails,  from  the  flanges  of  the  wheels,  was  far  less 


24 

than  in  the  case  of  the  "  Pony  "  or  the  "  Moun- 
taineer," the  weight  of  these  engines  being  brought 
to  bear,  in  the  course  of  their  oscillation,  upon  the 
rails. 

In  all  the  above  cases  the  speed  was  confined  to 
10  or  12  miles  per  hour,  in  a  straight  line,  on  a 
grade  of  1  in.  in  1,200  ft,,  or  4-40  ft.  per  mile,  and 
the  line  was  laid  with  rails  weighing  only  30 
pounds  per  yard,  not  fished  at  the  joints. 

The  "  Welsh  Pony  "  engine,  weighing  10  tons, 
with  cylinders  8i  in.  in  diameter  by  12  in.  stroke, 
and  wheels  24  in.  in  diameter,  took  50  wagons 
loaded  with  slate  from  Portmadock  to  the  engine 
house,  and  stopped  on  a  grade  of  1  in  85,  unable 
to  proceed  further,  with  150  Ibs.  to  the  square  inch 
steam  pressure. 

TONS.    CWT.    QRS. 

Weight  of  50  loaded  wagons 123     10       0 

"         "         Passengers 3     10        0 

"         "         Engine 10       0       0 


Total 137  0  0 

The  "  Welsh  Pony  "  then  took  25 

wagons,  weight 59  7  2 

Weight  of  Passengers 3  10  0 

Engine 10  0  0 


Total 72     17       2 

And  mounted   a   grade   of  1    in.  85    (or    62£    ft. 
per  mile)  with  145  Ibs.  steam  in  starting,  and  130 


25 

11>\  after    running  about  one    quarter  of  a    mile  ; 
then  stopped  to  return. 

The  same  engine  then  tried  30  wagons ;  could 
not  start  on  a  grade  of  1  in.  in  85  but  the  engine 
wheels  did  not  move:  there  was,  therefore,  no  want 
of  adhesion,  the  load  having  been  reduced  to 

TONS.    CWT.    QRS. 

26  Wagons 62       6       0 

Passengers 6     10        0 

Engine 10       0        0 


Total 73  16       0 

With  an  average  pressure  of  150  Ibs.  steam  the 
"  Pony  "  took  them  up  a  grade  of  1  in.  in  85  for 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  at  five  miles  per  hour. 

The  "Little  Wonder"  left  Portmadock  the 
same  afternoon  with  72  loaded  wagons  weighing 

TONS.    CWT.    QRS. 

Slates 138     17       2 

Empty  Wagons 43     13       0 

jrs...  400 


186     10       0 
Engine 19     10       0 


Total 206       0       2 

And  started  with  165  Ibs.  of  steam  and  ran  to  the 
engine  house,  and  up  the  grade  of  1  in.  in  85 
and  was  purposely  stopped  with  steam  at  125  Ibs, 
pressure  and  a  low  fire,  through  the  misapprehen- 
sion of  the  engine  driver.  She  was  then  backe^ 


26 

to  the  locality  from  which  the  ';  Pony  "  h-id  started 
with  26  wagons,  and  the  fire  being  made  up  and 
steam  raised  to  170  Ibs.  pressure,  she  freely  started, 
occasionally  slipping,  attained  a  speed  of  5  miles 
per  hour  with  the  72  wagons,  and  after  running 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  she  was  increasing  speed 
on  a  gradient  of  1  in.  in  100  when  she  was 
purposely  stopped,  with  steam  pressure  still  at  170 
Ibs.  to  the  square  inch. 

In  the  above  experiments  the  shorter  trains  were 
standing,  when  they  were  started,  or  attempted  to 
start,  partly  on  a  curve  of  2£  chs.  (165  ft.)  and  in 
the  last  experiment  with  the  "  Little  Wonder/'  the 
train  having  been  longer,  it  stood  partly  on  a 
curve  of  4i  chs.  (297  ft.)  and  partly  on  a  reverse 
curve  of  8  chs.  (528  ft.)  radius.  The  length  of 
this  train  was  648  feet. 

The  weather  was  fine,  with  a  strong  cold  wind 
blowing  against  the  trains,  and  the  rails  were  in  a 
remarkably  good  condition  for  adhesion. 

The  slate  wagons  had  no  springs  ;  the  diameter 
of  their  wheels  was  1  ft.  6  in.,  and  that  of  the 
journals  was  2i  inches. 

(Signed)       SUTHERLAND. 

COUNT  ALEXIS  BOBRISKOY. 

W.  E.  BAKER. 

W.  J.  THORNTON. 

W.  H.  TYLER. 

JULAND  DANVERS. 


27 

SECOND  SERIES  OF  EXPERIMENTS. 

The  result  of  an  experiment  on  the  Festinoig 
railroad  on  the  16th  of  February,  1870,  with  the 
"  Little  Wonder." 

Length  of  Engine,  27  feet. 

Weight  of  Engine  in  steam,  19£  tons. 

Diameter  of  Cylinders,  8  3-16  inches. 

Length  of  Stroke,  13  inches. 

Two  4- Wheeled  Bogies. 

Diameter  of  Wheels,  2  feet  4  inches. 

Wheels  coupled  in  each  Bogie. 

Wheel  base  of  each,  5  feet. 

Total  wheel  base,  19  feet. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  LOAD. 

TONS.    CWT.    QRS. 

22  Coal  Wagons 64  18  0 

21  Wagons  of  Slate 49  3  1 

2  Bogie  Timber  Trucks,  carrying 

timber  42  feet  long 4  18  2 

15  Passengers 112 

2  Empty  Trucks  between  Timber 

Bogies 141 

1  Workman's  Carriage 0  12  0 

Engine 19  10  0 


Total 141       7       2 

Length  of  Train,  with  Engine,  407  feet. 
The  whole  distance  to  be  run  over,  from   Port- 
madock  to   Dinas,    131    miles,  having  a  total  rise 


28 

from  a  level  of  703  feet,  with  maximum  gradients 
of  1  in.  in  92  for  12£  miles,  (57i  ft.  per  mile), 
the  Traethmawyr  embankment  near  Portmadock 
being  practically  level. 

The  maximum  curves  are  11  chs.  (115.5  ft.) 
Average  curves,  6,  7,  and  8  chs.,  the  whole  of  the 
line  being  composed  of  a  succession  of  curves, 
with  the  exception  of  the  before  named  embank- 
ment and  three  or  four  other  short  portions. 

The  train  started  from  Portmadock  at  5:4 1  P.M.: 
at  Penrhyn  station  at  5:58.  without  stopping 
there;  arrived  at  Hartford  LI} n  station  at  6:18, 
where  it  stobped  8i  minutes.  Started  at  6:26|, 
arrived  at  Ddwallt  station  (watering  place)  at  6:40, 
stopping  15  minutes  on  account  of  water  having 
frozen,  the  tank  could  not  be  filled  in  the  usual 
time. 

The  train  reached  the  long  tunnel  at  7:02  p.  M. 
through  which  it  ran  in  2  min.  10  sec.  (Length  of 
tunnel  730  yards,  2,190  feet.)  Ran  up  to  Tany- 
gresion  station,  at  which  it  arrived  at  7:09  P.  M., 
making  the  entire  journey  in  1  hour  34  minutes, 
including  stoppages  ;  or  exclusive  of  stoppages,  in 
1  hour  10  i  minutes. 

Maximum  speed,  15  miles  per  hour. 

Average  speed,  Hi  miles  per  hour. 

The  engine,  during   the  journey  from    Portma- 
dock to  Hartford,  never  slipped. 
On  starting  from  Hartford  Llyn  station  a  sligh  t, 


29 

slipping  occurred,  (the  train  being  on  a  curve  of  4 
ehs. — 264  ft — radius,  with  an  inclination  of  1  in. 
100)  the  rails  being  wet  and  heavy. 

Slight  slipping  on  starting  from  the  watering 
place  at  Ddwallt. 

The  engine  slipped  three  times  in  passing 
through  the  tunnel,  the  rails  being  wet  through- 
out. Considerable  slipping  took  place  at  the  junc- 
tion of  branch  lines,  this  place  being  always  wet 
and  greasy,  owing  to  the  slate  tr.ains  waiting  for 
the  down  passenger  trains. 

The  pressure  of  steam  ranged  from  160  to  180 
Ibs.,  at  which  latter  pressure  the  train  started,  the 
pressure  being  at  one  time  only  145  Ibs.  for  a 
quarter  of  a  mile. 

Average  pressure,  175  Ibs. 

The  entire  journey  was  run  throughout  by  the 
engine  in  only  two-thirds  gear. 

There  was  a  hard  wind  during  the  whole  of  the 
journey,  such  being  very  strong  in  some  parts  of 
the  line  against  the  train. 

(Signed)  LIVINGSTON  THOMPSON, 

C.  E.  SPOONER, 
COUNT  ALEXIS  BROBINSKOY, 
J.  RAEHBERG, 
PROFESSOR  SALOFF, 
R.  VON  DESEN, 
J.  SEMENTECHIMOFF, 

Commissioners. 


30 

THIRD  EXPERIMENT, 

Under  the  superintendence  of  the  President  and 
Engineer  of  the  La  Vendee  Railroad,  of  France. 

Started  from  Portmadock  with  a  train  of  140 
empty  slate  wagons  and  7  loaded  coal  wagons. 

Gross  weight  of  load  100  tons,  16  cwt.  2  qrs. 

Length  of  train  1323  feet, 

Proceeded  to  Dinas,  the  upper  end  of  the  Fes- 
tinoig '  railway.  The  maximum  speed  was  16£ 
miles  per  hour ;  the  average,  12£  miles. 

Average  gradients  1  in.  in  92  ft.,  57.4  per  mile. 

Average  curves  5  60-100   chs.,  375  24-100  feet. 

On  the  return  journey  the  speed  attained  was 
30  miles  an  hour  over  many  portions  of  the  road, 
the  average  speed  being  25  miles  per  hour. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CONSTRCT1ON    AND    EQUIPMENT    OF 
TB'E    FESTINOIG    RAILROAD. 

The  entire  width  of  right  of  way  procured  was 
but  8  feet.  The  country  through  which  it  is  built 
is  extremely  rough,  there  being  but  ten  per  cent, 
of  the  line  tangent,  with  curves  of  132  ft.  radius. 
The  iron  first  used  when  steam  was  applied  was 
16  Ibs.  per  yard,  which,  with  a  traffic  of  about 
350,000  tons  per  annum,  lasted  on  an  average  of 
14  years.  The  iron  now  used  is  30  and  32  Ibs 
per  yard.  Speed  attained,  40  miles. 


31 

Locomotives  weighing  from  10  to  19  1-2  tons 
haul  about  300  tons  of  average  loads.  The  pas- 
senger cars  12,  14,  16  ft.  in  length,  by  6  ft.  7  in. 
width,  carrying  14  passengers,  or  200  Ibs.  dead 
weight  for  passengers. 

Freight  cars  weigh  from  1,100  Ibs.  to  1  1-2  tons 
and  carry  from  three  to  four  tons  of  load. 

E.    C.    SPOONER      ON    NARROW     GAUGE 
FOR    INDIA. 

In  this  connection  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to 
quote  from  the  report  of  Mr.  Spooner,  Engineer  of 
the  Festinoig  road,  before  the  Inventors'  Institute 
at  London  in  1865,  on  the  system  of  small  gauge 
railroads  for  India.  He  says  : 

"  I  have  coriie  to  the  conclusion  that  a  2  ft.  9  in. 
gauge  is  the  most  advisable  for  India,  and  it  will 
fully  meet  all  the  requirements.  And  from  my 
experience  in  working  the  1  ft.  11  1-2  in.  gauge  I 
deduce  the  following,  to  show  the  sufficiency  of  a 
2  ft.  9  in.  gauge  : 

First. — That  the  cost  in  first  construction  in 
earthworks,  bridges,  tunnels,  etc.,  depends  almost 
entirely  on  the  gauge.  In  regard  to  the  construc- 
tion, there  is  another  matter  for  consideration  with 
the  Indian  lines,  which  is  of  great  importance ; 
namely  :  Being  able  to  lay  down  a  double  line  of 
2  ft.  9  in.  on  a  single  line  formation  of  5  ft.  6  in. 


32 

gauge  when  required,  without  altering  bridges, 
tunnels  or  earthworks,  (as  on  all  the  Government 
lines,  bridges,  tunnels,  viaducts,  etc.,  are  made  for 
a  double  line  of  way)  or  going  into  any  extra  ex- 
pense, except  laying  down  a  permanent  way. 

Secondly — That  the  cost  of  maintenance  of  roll- 
ing stock  and  permanent  way  will  be  low,  conse- 
quent on  the  small  weight  on  each  wheel,  and  less 
damage  to  rolling  .stock  in  "  shunting  "  or  on  col- 
lissions  occurring. 

Thirdly — That  a  speed  of  foft-j  miles  an  hour 
can  be  run  with  ease  and  &{fr'-y/,  as  a  speed  of  thirty- 
five  miles  per  hour  has  been  attained  on  a  Festin- 
oig  railwa}r.  The  present  woiking  speed  is  16£ 
miles  per  hour,  which  is  about  the  standard  speed 
proposed  for  the  Indian  railways  of  5  ft.  6  in. 
gauge. 

Fourthly — As  to  the  capacity  of  a  2  ft.  9  in- 
gauge  to  carry  the  required  traffic.  The  Festinoig 
railway  proves  that  a  very  heavy  traffic  can  be 
conducted.  The  capabilities  therefore  of  a  2  ft.  9 
in.  gauge  in  this  respect  must  be  apparent.  To 
gain  adhesion  for  the  secured  tractive  power,  to 
transmit  heavy  trains  at  necessary  speed,  and  roll- 
ing stock  of  the  required  capacity,  the  most  feas- 
ible known  plan  should  be  applied,  namely  :  En- 
gines of  the  Bogie  principle,  with  four-wheeled 
double  bogie  frames,  or  six-wheeled  double  bogie 
frames  ;  and  if  need  be,  with  lines  of  very  heavy 


33 

gradients  and  traffic,  quadruple  Bogie  engines,  by 
which  means  the  weight  of  engines  is  distributed 
evenly — and  rolling  stock  dispersed  over  the  line 
of  way  "  flange  "  and  "  drag  "  friction  is  reduced 
to  a  minimum,  saving  in  wear  and  tear  of  rails 
and  permanent  way,  and  great  advantage  gained 
in  passing  sharp  curves,  all  of  which  means  money 
saved  in  maintenance  of  way  and  rolling  stock, 
besides  of  fuel  consumed  for  a  given  load. 

The  rolling  stock  can,  by  this  means,  be  made 
to  carry  proportionately  more  than  on  the  ordi- 
nary gauge.  For  instance,  the  bogie  horse  box 
weighs  -seven  tons,  to  carry  six  horses,  with  com- 
partments for  groom  and  fodder,  having  when 
loaded  1  ton  6  cwt.  on  each  wheel ;  whereas  an 
ordinary  horse  box  on  a  4  8i  in.  gauge  weighs  six 
tons  and  carries  three  horses,  with  compartment 
for  groom,  and  having  when  loaded  1  ton  171-  cwt. 
on  each  wheel.  The  Bogie  cattle  truck  weighs  5 
tons  15  cwt.  and  carries  ten  cattle,  weighing  when 
loaded  11  tons  15  cwt.,  or  1  ton  9  cwt.  on  a  wheel, 
while  an  ordinary  cattle  truck,  on  a  1  ft.  8i  gauge, 
carrying  ten  beasts,  weighs  5  tons  10  cwt.,  and 
when  loaded,  11  tons  10  cwt.,  or  2  tons  17  cwt.  on 
a  wheel  Surely  these  trucks,  with  a  low  centre 
of  gravity  arid  steadiness  of  motion  secured,  must 
have  a  far  greater  stability  and  freedom  from  os- 
cillation than  those  in  use  on  the  ordinary  lines. 
Bogie  trucks  can  be  made  for  the  2  ft.  9  in.  gauge 


34 

of  any  dimensions  and  convenient  size  for  car- 
riages for  any  purpose,  of  passenger  or  freight 
traffic." 

And  again  I  will  quote  from  the  same  authority  : 
"  The  Festinoig  railway  carriages  and  trucks 
run  very  steady  at  a  speed  of  thirty-five  miles  an 
hour,  and  prove  to  have  the  required  lateral  sta- 
bility, even  when  going  over  the  old  rails,  with- 
out "fish  joints."  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  roll- 
ing stock  on  the  ordinary  lines  does  not  give 
nearly  the  carrying  capacity  compatible  with  the 
gauge.  This  can  not  be  increased,  as  the  weight 
already  brought  on  each  wheel  is  too  great,  caus- 
ing the  rails  in  three  or  four  years,  under  a  moder- 
rate  traffic,  to  become  crushed  or  laminated,  and 
under  a  heavy  traffic  at  or  near  stations  not  lasting 
as  many  months.  Steel  rails  have  a  greater  dura- 
bility— but  at  much  greater  cost — and  even  these 
scarcely  sustain  the  great  weight  and  impact  blows 
of  the  heavy  engines  and  rolltng  stock,  at  high 
rates  of  speed  ;  besides  steel  rails  wear  out  the 
tires  much  sooner  than  iron.  The  maximum 
weight  on  each  wheel  should  not  exceed  three  (3) 
tons,  and  can  be  reduced  to  two  tons  or  under. 

From  the  experience  obtained  in  working  small 
gauge  rolling  stock,  the  proportions  that  should  be 
observed  in  the  construction  of  trucks  for  engines 
and  cars  are  regulated  by  the  gauge,  as  follows  : 
Width  of  trucks  should  be  two  and  a  quarter  times 


35 

the  g;iuge  ;  the  depth  one  and  a  half  times  ;  the 
length,  four  and  a  half  times,  and  the  "  wheel 
ba.se  "  two  and  a  half  times  the  gauge  outside  di- 
mensions." 

EXTRACTS     FROM    THE    REPORT    OF    MAJOR    ADELSKOLD, 
STATE    NGINEE.R    OF    SWEEDEN. 

From  this  report  we  select  such  portions  as  are 
pertinent  to  the  subject,  ;md  illustrating  the 
workings  of  a  small  gauge  which  lays  between  the 
standard  4  ft.  8|  in.  and  the  2  ft.  9  in.  advocated 
for  India,  showing  that  the  objection  of  a  trans- 
shipment from  one  system  of  gauge  to  another  is 
not  attended  with  any  inconvenience  or  much  cost. 

The  road  we  refer  to  in  the  first  instance  is  23 
miles  in  length,  and  runs  between  the  seaboard  at 
Maclar  seaport  to  Ullinbord,  through  a  district  in 
which  are  several  large  iron  works  and  sawmills, 
connecting  that  district  with  the  small  town  of 
Koping,  on  the  Maclar  sea  and  the  Royal  Sweedish 
Main  Line. 

The  gauge  is  3  ft.  7  in.,  embankments  13  ft.  wide, 
rails  37  Ibs  per  yard,  with  fish  joints,  ties  6i  ft. 
long,  5  in.  by  8  in. 

The  grades  from  the  interior  to  the  seaport  are 
1  in.  in  200  in  the  direction  of  the  heaviest 
trafic,  and  1  in.  in  100  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion ;  maximum  curvature,  100  ft.  radius.  The 
rolling  stock  was  all  built  in  Sweeden,  and  con- 


36 

sists  of  three  locomotives  of  13  tons,  9  in.  cylin- 
ders, 16  in.  stroke,  4  wheels  coupled,  2  ft.  3  in. 
diameter ;  50  freight  cars  and  6  passenger  cars. 

The  freight  cars  are  of  6  tons  capacity,  16  ft. 
long,  6i  ft.  wide.  The  passenger  cars  are  arranged 
for  first  and  second  class  passengers,  and  carry 
twenty-six  passengers — proportion  of  weight  per 
passenger  of  313  Ibs. 

The  average  speed  is  16  miles  per  hour,  and  35 
miles  per  hour  have  been  made  on  several  occa- 
sions, making  scarcely  any  lateral  oscillation. 
The  travel  is  not  yet  fully  developed,  and  by 
doubling  the  number  of  cars  100,000  passengers 
and  150,000  tons  of  freight  can  be  carried  without 
any  difficulty. 

There  are  a  number  of  other  narrow  gauge 
roads  that  have  met  all  the  requirements  made  of 
them,  and  entirely  realized  the  expectations  of 
their  owners  in  every  respect.  Two  of  these  are 
4  ft.  gauge ;  one  26  and  the  other  56  miles  long, 
and  are  branches  of  the  Sweedish  Main  Line. 
Prior  to  the  completion  of  the  first,  it  was  generally 
believed  that  the  transfer  of  freight  from  the 
branch  to  the  main  line  would  involve  considerable 
outlay  and  serious  loss  of  time.  This  objection 
has  proved  to  be  very  trifling ;  the  cost  of  trans- 
shipment does  not  exceed  one  cent  per  ton. 

It  was  a  subject  of  much  doubt  whether  these 
small  engines  would  keep  the  road  open  in  winter. 


37 

The  experience  of  several  severe  winters  has 
shown  that  no  fears  need  be  entertained  on  this 
head. 

He  further  says  that  "  In  every  case  where 
small  gauges  have  been  built  they  have  realized 
every  expectation,"  and  deems  it  a  waste  of  capi- 
tal to  build  broader  gauges  when  a  narrower  and 
cheaper  one  will  meet  all  the  requirements  of  bus- 
iness. In  a  thinly  settled  country,  as  this,  where  the 
available  capital  will  hardly  meet  the  wants  of 
the  rapid  industrial  and  agricultural  developments, 
and  where  cheapness  of  transportation  is  of  the 
greatest  importance,  the  smaller  gauge  may,  in 
many  localities,  be  well  adopted,  if  not  positively 
a  necessity,  as  they  can  be  easily  built,  and  at 
such  cost  that  with  but  a  small  traffic  they  are 
able,  not  only  to  cover  the  cost  of  operating  them, 
but  pay  a  good  interest  on  the  capital  invested. 

EXTRACT     FROM     ADDRESS     BY     MR.    HULSE,    PRESIDENT 
MANCHESTER   INSTITUTE    CIVIL    ENGINEERS. 

After  discussing  the  present  system  on  its  finan- 
cial theory,  which  has  been  in  this  paper  already 
examined,  with  conclusions  that  the  system  has 
been  much  too  expensive  both  in  construction  and 
management,  he  assigns  the  following  reasons  for 
a  change  from  the  present  to  a  smaller  gauge  : 
That  the  3  ft.  6  in.  gauge  is  much  preferable  to 
the  existing  4  ft.  8|  system  for  local  railroads  : 


38 

First — Because  there  is  no  necessity  to  use  rails 
over  40  Ibs.  per  yard ;  tunnels  and  bridges  need 
not  be  of  a  bight  exceeding  10  1-2  feet,  earth- 
work of  all  kinds  may  be  reduced  at  least  one- 
third;  curves  can  be  used  as  sharp  as  132  feet 
radius,  locomotives  need  not  exceed  15  tons,  car- 
riages not  to  exceed  3  tons  and  the  weight  on  a 
wheel  in  no  case  need  be  more  than  2  tons. 
Whereas  on  the  4  ft.  8  1-2  system  the  rails  are  80 
Ibs.  per  yard,  tunnels  and  bridges  24  ft.  wide,  open 
cuttings  in  proportion,  curves  not  less  than  570  ft. 
radius,  locomotives  30  tons,  carriages  8  to  20  ton?, 
with  a  minimum  load  on  each  wheel  of  not  less 
than  6  tons.  The  short  curves  that  can  be  used 
on  a  narrow  gauge  avoid  to  a  great  extent  the  de- 
struction of  property,  and  can  be  adapted  to  the 
contour  of  almost  any  mountain  country,  reducing 
the  cutting  and  embankment  from  through  cuts 
and  high  embankments  to  "  side-hill  work." 

He  estimates  that  the  3i  ft.  system  costs  less 
than  two-thirds  as  much  as  the  4  ft.  8£  in.  system, 
and  can  be  worked  at  not  to  exceed  two-thirds  the 
expense. 

This  system  has  been  largely  adopted  in  Aus- 
tralia, Ceylon,  Norway  and  Belgium  with  com- 
plete success. 

The  system  of  passenger  cars  adopted  there  is 
mostly  what  is  know  as  the  "Omnibus  style," 
with  seats  arranged  on  the  sides  and  a  passage 


39 

30  to  36  inches  in  width  down  the  middle,  doors 
opening  inward  at  each  end. 

The  dimensions  of  such  cars  are  :  Length,  20 
ft.,  width  6i  ft.  and  6i  ft.  high  inside,  Carriages 
of  this  size  accommodate  24  passengers,  twelve  on 
a  side,  and  give  30  cubic  feet  of  space  to  each. 

He  further  says  that  in  some  districts  it  might 
be  found  desirable  to  adopt  2  ft.  gauges,  for  their 
cheapness,  as  has  been  done  in  North  Wales. 

EXTRACTS   FROM   THE    CIRCULAR    OF    M.    RIRD    &  CO.,  ON 
THE    SPEED    OF    SMALL    LOCOMOTIVES  : 

The  narrow  gauge  locomotive,  with  driving 
wheels  of  36  in.  diameter,  and  cylinders  16  in. 
stroke,  at  a  speed  of  36  miles  per  hour,  develops 
the  same  speed  of  piston  as  a  full  gauge  locomo- 
tive with  5  ft.  driving  wheels  and  cylinders  24  in. 
stroke  at  a  speed  of  40  miles  per  hour. 

With  driving  wheels  40  in.  diameter  and  16  in 
•stroke  of  piston,  the  narrow  gauge  locomotive  de- 
velops the  same  total  travel  of  piston  in  going 
one  mile  as  does  a  full  gauge  locomotive  with 
driving  wheels  60  in.  diameter  and  24  in.  stroke 
of  piston. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  equal  speeds  are  at- 
tainable on  the  norrow  gauge  as  on  the  full  gauge. 
The  angle  of  stability  of  the  narrow  gauge  loco- 
motive, with  3  ft,  driving  wheels,  is  somewhat 


40 

greater  than  that  of  the  4  ft.  8  1-2  in.  gauge  loco- 
motive, with  5  ft.  driving  wheels. 

[See  tables  of  comparative  weights  and  dimen- 
sions of  narrow  gauge  cars  on  closing  pages  of 
this  work.] 

PATTERNS    OF    CARS    IN    USE  ON  NARROW  GAUGE  ROADS. 

For  passenger  trains '8  wheeled  cars  with  bodies 
26  ft.  long  and  6  ft  wide  are  proposed  as  follows  : 

1st.  First  class  cars,  with  revolving  back  seats, 
(double  seats  on  the  one  side  of  car  and  single 
seats  on  the  other,  the  plan  being  reversed  in  the 
two  ends  of  the  car)  to  carry  28  passengers. 

2d.  First  class  passenger  cars,  with  two  rows 
of  turning  chairs  and  aisle  between,  to  accommo- 
date 18  first  class  passengers. 

3d.  First  class  passenger  cars,  with  cushioned 
seats,  like  horse  railway  cars  ;  capacity,  30  pas- 
sengers. 

4th.  Second  class  passenger  cars,  with  longi- 
tudinal seats  in  centre  (passengers  sitting  back  to 
back  ;)  capacity,  26  passengers. 

All  these  cars  to  have  wheels  24  inches  in  di- 
ameter. 

PROPORTION  OF  NON-PAYING  TO  PAYING  WEIGHT 
TWENTY-NINE  TO  ONE  ON  PASSENGER  TRAINS  ON 
THE  STANDARD  GAUGE. 

It   is    now    known,   and   everywhere   admitted 


41 

among  railroad  men,  that  the  proportion  of  non- 
paying  weight  in  passenger  trains  to  paying 
weight  is  as  much  as  19  to  1  in  our  ordinary  first 
class  cars,  and  in  the  sleeping  and  dining  cars  as 
much  as  29  to  1.  In  freight  trains  about  7  to  1. 
This  terrible  disproportion  is  partly  due  to  the 
system  of  management  pursued,  but  in  a  far 
greater  degree  to  the  gauge. 

The  dead  weight  of  trains  carrying  either  pas- 
sengers or  merchandise  is  in  direct  proportion  to 
the  gauge  on  which  they  run  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
the  non-paying  to  the  paying  weight  (as  far  as 
this  is  independent  of  management)  is  increased 
exactly  as  the  rails  are  placed  farther  apart ;  for 
the  simple  reason  that  a  ton  of  materials  disposed 
in  the  rolling  stock  on  a  narrow  gauge  is  stronger, 
as  regards  its  carrying  capacity,  than  the  same 
weight  when  spread  over  a  wider  base.  In  prov- 
ing this  we  need  only  cite  the  Festinoig  railroad. 
The  cars  used  there  for  carrying  timber  weigh 
only  1,341  Ibs.,  and  they  frequently  carry  loads  of 
3i  tons,  at  a  speed  of  12  miles  per  hour.  In  other 
words,  these  cars  carry  a  load  as  much  as  -five  and 
a  half  times  their  own  weight,  while  the  ordinary 
cars  on  the  standard  gauge  carry  not  more  than 
one  to  one. 

In  order  to  demonstrate  this  part  of  the  argu- 
ment, it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  quote  from 
the  returns  of  the  Board  of  Trade  for  Great 


42 

Britain  in  the  year  1867,  by  way  of  comparison  : 

"  The  work  done  by  the  locomotives  of  Great 
Britain  in  1867,  the  last  year  for  which  returns 
have  been  made,  was  3.924,624  passengers  trains 
hauled  19.08  miles  each,  with  a  total  tonnage  of 

Paying  weight,  27,472,368,  or  4.89  per  ct. 

Non-paying  weight,  533,748,864,  or  95.11  per  ct. 
And  of  freight  trains,  2,403,866,  hauled  30.64 
miles  each.  With  a  tonnage  of 

Paying  weight,  146,535,826  tons,  or  30.34  per  ct. 

Non-paying  weight,  336,541,240  tons,  or  69.66 
per  cent. 

And  of  total  trains,  6,328,490  hauled  23  47-100 
miles,  with  a  tonnage  of 

Paying  weight,  174,108,194  tons,  or  16.67  per  ct. 

Non-paying  weight,  870,290,104  tons,  or  83'.33 
per  ct. 

Horizontal  miles  run  : 

Passenger  trains 10,708,101,106 

Freight  trains 14,804,545,302 


Total 25,212,646,408 

This  work  was  done  by  8,619  locomotives,  show- 
ing work  done  by  each  per  annum  of  2,960,047 
horizontal  mile  tons  ;  work  done  by  each  per  day, 
8,966  horizontal  mile  tons — equivalent  to  382  tons 
hauled  23.47  miles  per  day.  and  17,346  miles  run 
by  each  engine  per  year. 

Taking  the  23  47-100  miles,  the  actual  average 


43 

distance  run  by  each  train  per  day,  as  consisting 
of  an  ascending  grade  of  1  in.  in  300  ft.  for  half 
the  distance,  or  11,735  miles,  and  a  descending 
grade  for  the  remaining  half,  and  assuming  26 
miles  per  hour  to  be  the  average  speed  of  each 
train,  the  following  results  are  obtained: 

Miles  run  each  day  per  train,  23.47. 

Tons  weight  of  each  train,  165.03. 

Feet  run  per  minute  at  26  miles  per  hour,  2,288. 

Lift  of  train  per  minute,  2™,  7^  ft. 

Horse  power  due  to  lifting,  85^. 

"        due  to   friction  at   9  Ibs.  per  ton, 

109  9(i 
1UZ100. 

Horse  power  in  ascending  incline,  188^. 

"      in  descending   incline,  102.96—85 
.41-17.53. 

Horse  power  exercised  in  a  run  of  23.47  miles, 
205.92. 

Trains  hauled  per  day  by  each  engine,  2.22. 

Each  train  hauled  23^  miles,  at  26  miles  per 
hour,  gives  54^  minutes  occupied  in  the  average 
journey,  or  forjeach  engine  an  average  working 
time  of  two 'hours  per  day. 

The  average  horse  power  these  engines  are  ca- 
pable of  exercising  is  probably  not  less  than  400 
hosse  power  each,  making  a  total  horse  power  of 
the  8,6 19  engines  in  use  of  3,447,600,  of  which 
only  2,240,940  horse  power  can  be  made  availa- 
ble. These  results  of  course  cannot  be  taken  as 


44 

demonstrating  the  work  that  may  be  obtained 
from  any  individual  engine,  but  only  as  a  means  of 
comparing  the  work  done  in  one  year  with  that 
done  in  another  in  the  same  country,  and  in  corn- 
paring  the  work  done  by  locomotives  in  one  coun- 
try or  one  road  with  that  done  on  another ;  and 
above  all,  in  showing  how  much  the  weakness  of 
the  present  system  is  responsible  for,  in  taking 
from  the  gross  horse  power  which  might  be  nearly 
all  economised  in  hauling  paying  freight.  Hauling 
dead  weight  not  only  never  pays  for  its  transpor- 
tation, but  wears  itself  and  the  rails  out  in  one- 
third  the  time  that  the  actual  business  of  the 
country,  economically  managed,  would  require. 

And  again,  if  the  dead  weight  of  any  train  be 
diminished,  the  weight  of  the  engine  may  be  sim- 
ilarly affected.  And  here  is  one  of  the  strong 
points  of  the  narrow  gauge  system.  It  is  evident 
to  any  one  who  examines  the  rails  of  any  of  our 
lines  of  railroads  that  have  been  in  operation  even 
a  short  time,  that  the  weight  of  the  locomotive 
and  rolling  stock  is  much  too  great,  from  the 
crushed  ends  and  the  laminated  appearance  of  the 
tread  of  the  rails. 

The  engines  of  the  present  system  carry  a 
weight  of  from  4  to  6  tons,  and  even  more,  on 
one  wheel3  while  the  actual  business  of  the  coun- 
try can  be  as  speedily  and  as  safely  carried  with 
engines,  the  weight  of  which  are  only  2i  or  3 


45 

tons  to  each  wheel.  In  one  case  the  weight  of 
the  motive  power  crushes  the  rails  out  of  existence 
in  five  years ;  in  the  other  they  wear  by  attrac- 
tion only  and  last  fifteen  years. 

Aside  from  the  locomotives  of  the  present  sys- 
tem being  far  too  heavy,  even  the  weight  and 
power  necessary  for  the  system  cannot  be  econo- 
mically used  to  much  more  than  one-half  their  ca- 
pacity. I  propose  to  examine  wiry  it  is  that  pas- 
senger traffic  cannot  be  utilized  only  in  the  pro- 
portion of  one  to  nineteen.  Let  us  look  at  the 

PASSENGER  CARS. 

One  of  our  ordinary  passenger  cars  weighs 
from  33,000  to  60,000  Ibs.,  and  the  average  of  all 
through  trains  does  not  average  27  passengers  for 
a  60  passenger  car  weighing,  say  4,000  Ibs.  The 
non-paying  weight  therefore  exceeds  the  paying 
weight  from  eight  to  fifteen  times. 

On  a  3  foot  gauge  a  car  to  accommodate  thirty 
passengers  weighs  from  8,000  to  15,600  Ibs.,  the 
passengers,  as  before,  weigh  5,250  Ibs.,  or  from 
one  and  a  half  to  three  times  the  paying  load  of  each 
car.  In  other  words,  the  locomotive  on  the  3  feet 
gauge  will  have  to  haul  from  tivelve  to  twenty  tons 
lers  weight  in  each  car  in  the  train  than  that  of 
the  wide  gauge  road  ;  but  we  will,  for  the  sake  of 
argument,  say  only  seven  tons  less,  and  to  keep 
the  carrying  capacity  of  the  smaller  road  to  the 


46 

standard  of  the  wide  gauge,  business  it  may  be 
necessary  to  run  an  additional  car  capacity.  Sup- 
pose, then,  that  five  passenger  cars  are  necessary 
to  do  the  business  on  an  already  established  road 
of  standard  gauge,  and  seven  on  that  proposed  for 
trains  of  3  ft.  gauge.  The  weight  of  each  train 
will  then  be  as  follows : 

WEIGHT    OF    PASSENGER    TRAIN    ON  4  FT.  8£  IN  GAUGE. 

TONS  NET. 

5  Passenger  cars,  at  33,000  Ibs 82 

1  Baggage  and  Express  car 26£ 

Weight  of  passengers  and  baggage 10 

"       "     Engine  and  Tender 45 


Total  weight  of  train 

ON  A  3  FEET  GAUGE. 

TONS    NET, 

7  Passenger  cars,  18,000  Ibs.,  126,000  Ibs.  63 
1  Baggage  and  1  Express  car,  19,QOO  Ibs.         9i 

Weight  of  passengers  and  bag'ge,  22,000  11 

Engine  and  Tender 17 

Total 10U 

Assuming   two   trains  each  way  per  day  for  313 
days,  there  will  be  hauled 

TONS. 

On  the 4 ft.  8  1-2 in. gauge,  gross  tonage... 205,954 
On  the  3  ft.  gauge,  gross  tonnage 126,452 

79,502 


47 

Showing  a  non-paying  weight  of  79,502  tons 
hauled  on  the  wide  gauge  road ;  and  suppose  the 
actual  cost  of  transportation  is  2.56  cts.  per  ton 
per  mile  (which  is  not  far  from  the  cost  in  this 
state)  we  have  an  amount  of  saving  per  year  of 
$2,035.25  per  mile,  or  on  100  miles  '$203.525  in 
favor  of  the  small  gauge  road  in  passenger  traffic 
alone,  aside  from  the  saving  in  the  wear  and  tear 
of  the  rails  and  rolling  stock,  which  is  nearly 
three  to  one. 

And  now  let  us  look  at  the  expenses  in  trans- 
porting freight  on  the  two  systems  : 

CAPACITY  AND  WEIGHT  OF  FREIGHT  TRAINS. 

« 

An  ordinary  8  wheeled  freight  car  on  the  stand- 
ard gauge  may  be  taken  at  20,000  Ibs.,  and  carries 
a  weight  of  about  18,000  Ibs. 

If  the  cai\s  were  fully  loaded  in  each  trip  the 
proportion  of  non-paying  to  paying  load  would  be 
as  10  tons  to  9  tons ;  but  we  know  that  scarcely 
ever  a  freight  car  leaves  any  depot  (except  on 
long  through  journeys,  and  sometimes  not  even 
then)  with  a  full  load ;  and  in  every  train  that 
leaves  and  arrives  at  a  terminus  it  is  found  that 
some  of  the  cars  have  run  empty  between  stations. 
For  these  reasons  it  is  found  that  the  non-paying 
weight  carried  by  them  is  in  the  proportion  of  li 
tons  to  each  1  ton  of  paying  weight,  or  a  10  ton 


48 

freight  car  cannot  average  a  paying  load  of  over 
8  tons  through  the  year. 

'  On  the  other  hand,  a  freight  car  on  a  3  feet 
gauge,  with  a  carrying  capacity  of  10,000  ibs.,  or 
5  tons,  and  weighing  7,000  Ibs.,  or  3  1-2  tons,  will 
carry  an  average  load  the  year  round  of  4f  tons 
and  still  have  a  contingent  capacity  of  500  Ibs. 
per  trip  for  local  business. 

In  this  case  the  non-paying  weight  of  3£  tons 
has  a  carrying  capacity  of  over  4f  tuns,  or  as  1 
non-productive  to  1,$  paying,  against  1J  non-pay- 
ing to  1  pay  ing  load 

A  freight  train  on  the  standard  gauge,  trans- 
porting 200  tons  of  paying  freight  will  require  25 
cars,  weighing  over  250  tons,  which  is  H  tons 
dead  weight  to  1  ton  live  weight ;  but  on  the 
small  gauge  200  tons  of  freight  will  will  require 
but  17  cars  more  than  the  standard  gauge,  or  42 
cars  in  all  for  the  trip,  and  will  weigh  147  tons, 
or  1  ton  of  dead  weight  to  1^  paying  load. 

RESULTS  OF  COMPARISON FREIGHT. 

We  have  then  the  weight  of  a  train  transport- 
200  tons  of  freight 

ON  A  STADARD  GAUGlS. 

TONS. 

25  Freight  Cars  at  10  tons  each 250 

Freight  Load 200 

Weight  of  Engine  and  Tender 45 

Total  Tons  of  Train ...  . .  .495 


49 

ON  A  3  FEET  GAUGE. 

TONS. 

42  Cars  at  7,000  Ibs.  each 147 

Freight  Load 200 

Weight  of  Engine  and  Tender 17i 


Total  tons  of  Train 364£ 

Or  130  1-2  tons  less  dead  weight  to  move  the  train 
on  the  3  feet  gauge  than  on  the  standard,  and  dur- 
ing 313  working  days  of  2  trains  per  day,  one 
each  way,  the  saving  in  tons  hauled  to  do  a  busi- 
ness of  400  tons  per  day,  or  125,000  tons  per  year, 
will  average  81,690  tons  in  favor  of  the  3  ft.  gauge 
and  at  2  1-2  cents  per  ton  per  mile  will  show  a 
saving  on  these  two  daily  trains  of  $204,250  per 
annum. 

In  the  transportation  of  minerals  of  all  kinds 
the  same  or  nearly  the  same  results  have  been  ar- 
rived at ;  that  is  to  say,  f  ton  dead  weight  only  car- 
ried to  each  ton  of  paying  weight  as  against  l^jjjj 
tons  of  dead  weight  to  one  ton  of  paying  load. 

COMPARATIVE  REVENUE. 

It  has  been  shown  that  in  four  daily  passenger 
trains,  with  a  given  business,  the  3  ft.  would  save 
annually 

In  working  expenses  of  Pass.  Trains $203,550 

In         "  "  2  daily  Ft.  Trs..  204,250 

Total  saving  on  an  annual  business...  $407,800 


50 

Which  is  equal  to  an  interest  of  5  per  cent,  on  six 
and  three-quarters  millions  dollars. 

EARNINGS  COMPARED. 

The  business  assumed  for  a  4  ft.  8  1-2  in  gauge 
100  miles  long,  with  double  track,  we  will  suppose 
to  cost  $8,000,000  for  construction  and  equip- 
ment, and  assuming  the  gross  revenue  to  be  of 
$2,000,000,  deduct  60  per  cent,  working  expenses, 
$1,200,000,  leaving  net  earnings,  $800,000 ;  or  8 
per  cent,  dividend,  and  2  per  cent,  sinking  fund. 

A  railroad  of  like  character  of  3  ft.  gauge  will 
cost  not  to  exceed  $3,000,000  ;  will,  of  course,  re- 
ceive the  same  gross  revenue  of  $2,000,000 ;  al- 
lowing the  same  rate  for  working  expenses,  $1,- 
200,000,  less  the  saving  shown  above,  407,800, 
leaving  for  net  earnings  $1,207,800,  or  a  net  profit 
of  over  40  per  cent,,  or  $3,000,000  ;  or  in  other 
words,  that  while  the  standard  gauge  roads  cost 
to  operate  them  60  per  cent,  of  the  gross  earn- 
ings and  leave  but  40  per  cent,  for  revenue,  the  3 
ft.  gauge  can  be  operated  at  a  cost  of  26  per  cent, 
of  the  gross  earnings  and  leave  74  per  cent,  for  net 
reveuue. 

NEW  YORK  CENTRAL,  NEW  YORK  &  ERIE 
AND  OTHER  RAILROADS. 

Again  let  us  examine  the  operations  of  two  of 
the  leading  lines  of  the  United  States  :  The  New 


51 

York  and  Hudson  River,  the  New  York  and  Erie, 
and  other  large  roads  : 

It  will  be  observed  by  any  one  travelling  on  our 
leading  railroads  that  the  passenger  cars  reserved 
for  local  business  on  through  trains  are  but  par- 
tially filled  during  many  hours  of  the  day,  and  an 
average  in  our  60-passenger  cars  of  27  to  30  pas- 
sengers is  considered  good  work.  These  trains 
generally  move  with  about  six  passenger  cars, 
weighing,  with  the  engine,  loaded  tender  and  bag- 
gage car,  about.  360.000  Ibs. — 180  passengers  to 
360,000  Ibs.,  gross  weight  of  train,  or  2,000  Ibs.  to 
each  passenger ;  that  is  to  say,  for  .every  ton  of 
passengers  that  pays  we  carry  fourteen  tons  dead 
weight  without  pay. 

In  the  year  1871  the  passenger  traffic  of  the 
New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroads 
amounted  to  321,365,953  passengers  carried  one 
mile;  but  they  carried  along  with  them  477,- 
750,000  tons  of  dead  weight ;  that  is,  a  ton  and  a 
half  of  dead  weight  to  each  passenger. 

NEW    YORK    AND    ERIE,    459    MILES  OF  MAIN    LINE. 

The  New  York  and  Erie  Railroad,  a  6  ft  gauge 
double  track,  did  worse  than  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral. The  number  of  passengers  carried  one  mile 
is  given  at  135,589,100,  with  448,250,000  tons  of 
dead  weight,  which  is  three  and  one-third  tons  of 
dead  weight  per  passenger. 


52 

In  the  freight  traffic  the  New  York  Central 
moved  469,087,777  tons  one  mile,  and  40-5,500,000 
tons  dead  weight,  or  86-100  of  a  ton  dead  weight  for 
every  ton  of  paying  freight. 

And  the  Erie  moved  809,862,718  tons  of 
freight  one  mile  with  1,177,250.000  tons  of  dead 
weight,  or  1^  tons  dead  weight  per  ton  of  paying 
freight. 

ATLANTIC    AND    GREAT  WESTERN,   387  MILES  MAIN  LINE. 

The  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railroad  car- 
ried 54,139,269  pass,  one  mile,  and  179,060,000 
tons  dead  weight,  or  three  tons  and  thirty  one- 
hundredths  dead  weight  per  passenger ;  while 
there  was  transported  252,353,696  tons  of  freight 
one  mile,  and  472,686,800  tons  dead  weight,  or 
nearly  two  tons  dead  weight  to  one  of  paying 
freight. 

CHICAGO    AND    NORTHWESTERN,    834    MILES   MAIN   LINE. 

The  passengers  carried  on  this  road  for  the  year 
1871,  amounted  to  100,802,512,  carried  one  mile, 
with  139,980,000  tons  dead  weight,  which  is 
1  39-100  tons  dead  weight  per  passenger ;  while 
the  freight  moved  on  this  road  during  the  year 
amounted  to  268,417,881  tons,  one  mile,  with 
314,460,000  tons  dead  weight,  or  1  17-100  tons 
dead  to  1  ton  paying  freight. 


It  is  needless  to  adduce  more  examples  of  the 
waste  of  motive  power  of  the  present  system ; 
there  is,  however,  one  more  out  of  the  many  that 
the  tables  of  last  year  show  that  we  will  quote, 
and  then  leave  the  subject :  the 

LAKE  SHORE  AND  MICHIGAN  SOUTHERN  RAILROAD, 

Running  through  the  States  of  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  a  distanee  of 
1,282^  miles  of  line,  consisting  of  539^  miles 
main  line,  473^  branch  and  26 9^  second  track. 

On  this  road,  traversing  portions  of  five  states, 
the  passenger  traffic  is  reported  at  153,390,937 
passengers  carried  one  mile,  and  569,833,666  tons 
of  freight,  with  the  proportions  in  passenger  traffic 
of  jo  tons  to  each  of  dead  weight,  and  of  freights 
Ixoo  dead  to  1  of  paying  weight ;  or  for  one  ton  of 
paying  passenger  freight  carried,  the  road  carries 
nearly  14  tons  of  load. 

THEORY  OF  OSCILLATION. 

It  has  been  asserted  in  another  part  of  this  pa- 
per that  the  lateral  oscillation  on  a  narrow  gauge 
is  absolutely  less  than  on  a  gauge  of  4  ft.  8i  inches 
or  over.  The  best  illustration  of  this  subject  is 
taken  from  the  able  report  of  Mr.  Sears,  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Pennsylvania  &  Sodus  Bay  Rail- 
road, in  a  report  recommending  a  3  ft.  gauge  for 
that  company  in  1871.  He  says : 


54 

"  These  systems  have  ceased  to  be  experimental 
only — on  the  contrary,  so  successful  have  they  be- 
come, that  even  in  the  United  States  where  rail- 
roads are  built  the  cheapest,  the  public  attention 
is  being  drawn  to  them,  and  prudent  men  are  ask- 
ing why  every  section  of  the  country  cannot  have 
its  own  railroad,  when  they  can  be  provided  at 
such  cheap  rates." 

He  says,  on  the  matter  of  stability  at  high  rates 
of  speed: 

It  is  feared  by  some  that  a  3  6 -inch  gauge  will 
not  give  as  stable  equilibrium  to  our  cars  as  is 
necessary,  and  asks  the  attention  of  his  company 
to  the  accompanying  diagrams,  designated  Fig.  1 
and  Fig  2. 


i.oo 


1850 


A 


6800 


1.00 


1850 


FIG.  1. 


56 


1.00 

2.34 

1.00 

7,250 

;17»000 

7,250 

A 

B 

C 

FIG.  2. 


They  are  drawn  to  a  common  scale  of  four  feet 
to  an  inch,  and  exhibit  the  relative  size  of  a  car 
at  present  in  use  on  the  ordinary  gauges,  (No.  2.) 
and  a  car  such  as  is  required  on  a  36-inch  gauge. 
(No.  1.) 

The  smaller  car  is  7  feet  outside  width,  with  a 
.  clear  hight  of  7£  feet  under  centre  of  dome. 

The  small  letters  "a"  and  "  b  "  represent  the 
base  on  which  the  cars  stand  ;  that  is,  the  distance 
from  out  to  out  of  rail,  which  in  the  3  ft.  gauge 
is  40  inches,  so  that  for  this  small  car  the  over- 
hang is  22  inches  on  a  side. 

Now,  to  compare  the  stability  of  cars  on  the 
two  systems,  let  us  divide  each  car  by  two  vertical 
'lines  "ac"and  "d  b,"  projected  upwards  from 
the  outside  edge  of  the  rail. 

In  the  smaller  car  the  outside  sections  A  C 
weigh  each  1,850  .Ibs.,  and  the  middle  section 
weighs  6.800  Ibs ;  that  is,  if  A  weighs  100  parts 
of  the  whole,  B  is  368  and  C  100. 

To  secure  this  car  agaiust  overturning,  the  100 
parts  that  are  hung  on  either  side  of  the  rail  are 
counterbalanced  by  the  remaining  468  parts. 
Whereas,  in  the  larger  car,  100  parts  of  overhang 
are  secured  by  only  334  parts  of  counterbrlance ; 
so  that  we  find  our  small  gauge  car  is  really  the 
safer  and  more  stable  of  the  two — chances  of  over- 
turning are  as  271  to  42 i,  or  thereabouts. 

No  wonder  then,  that  the  testimony  of  Captain 


58 

Taylor,  Royal  Inspector  of  Railroads  in  England, 
issued  to  the  Festinoig  railroad  in  Wales  authority 
to  run  their  passenger  trains  at  any  rate  the!/  ma/./ 
desire  (although  he  limited  them  to  12  miles  per 
hour  when  first  opened,  and  still  limits  the  stand- 
ard gauge  roads  in  that  country)  for  he  declares 
that  he  travelled  over  this  little  road  at  thirty  miles 
per  hour  with  every  feeling  of  safety,  and  that  a 
system  of  lines  like  this  can  be  built  costing  but 
two-thirds  of  those  now  constructed  and  maintained 
at  one-half  the  expense  for  any  country. 

LOUISVILLE  AND  NASHVILLE  RAILROAD. 

CONCURRING  TESTIMONY. 

Again,  we  have  the  testimony  of  J.  P.  Boyle, 
Esq.,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Louisville  and  Nash- 
ville Railroad,  in  a  report  to  his  company  in  ilus- 
tration  of  the  actual  workings  of  wide  and  narrow 
gauges.  He  says : 

The  London  &  N.  W.  Railroad,  England,  has  a 
gauge  of  4  ft.  8£  inches.  The  business  done 
amounts  to  about  fifteen  millions  tons  per  year, 
five  millions  of  which  is  mineral,  and  ten  millions 
tons  of  general  merchandise.  With  such  a  large 
movement  of  paying  freight  let  us  see  what  the 
movement  of  dead  weight  would  be  in  handling 
this  business : 

As  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  the  propor- 
tion of  non-paying  to  paying  weight  transported 


59 

over  a  wide  gauge  is  at  least  5  to  1,  (and  runs  7 
to  1)  the  amount  of  dead  weight  hauled  over  the 
L.  &.  N.  W.  R.  11.,  to  transport  the  ten  millions 
ton-s  of  freight  would  amount  to  fifty  millions  tons 
at  an  average  speed  of  twentj'-five  miles  an  hour. 

LET  US  SEE    WHAT  A  WIDE  GAUGE  DOES  WITH  IT. 

The  -entire  length  of  the  road  named  is  1,450 
miles.  The  average  gross  weight  of  each  train 
hauled  is  250  tons,  which  requires  240,000  trains 
to  haul  the  sixty  millions  tons  required — or  in  313 
working  duys  767  trains  per  day  over  all  parts  of 
the  road  of  1,450  miles  in  24  hours. 

The  company's  books  show  that  each  net  ton 
produces  about  $1.20,  which,  at  3  ets.  per  ton  per 
mile,  makes  the  average  distance  travelled  by 
each  ton  of  freight  40  miles,  and  consequently 
each  train  only  averages  40  miles  in  distance  per 
day  travelled,  (the  Board  of  Trade — average  be- 
ing 23^5.)  The  road  being  1,450  miles  long,  it 
follows  that  there  must  be  an  average  of  36  trains 
distributed  along  the  length  of  the  road  con- 
stantly ;  this  number  divided  into  the  total  num- 
ber of  trains  per  day  shows  an  average  of  about 
21  trains  per  day  passing  over  each  mile  of  road, 
or  one  every  70  minutes.  Thus,  it  will  be  seen, 
that_  notwithstanding  the  movement  is  so  enor- 
mous, if  the  trains  sustain  an  average  .speed  of  25 
miles  per  hour,  one  train  following  another  is  in 


60 

70  minutes  behind  the  preceding  one  and  in  dis- 
tance about  27  miles.  It  will  thus  be  seen  what  a 
large  surplus  capacity  this  road  has  for  doing  busi- 
ness that  is  not  utilized. 

Let  us  now  see  what  can  be  done  with  this  busi- 
ness 

ON  A  3  FEET    GAUGE. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  proven  that  a  speed  of  30 
miles  per  honr  can  be  maintained  on  a  3  ft.  gauge, 
vet  we  will  accept  the  same  speed  as  on  a  standard 
gauge,  that  is,  25  miles  per  hour. 

The  narrow  gauge  freight  cars  weigh  1!  tons 
unclwill  carry  4  tons  of  paying  freight;  ten  mil- 
lion tons  paying  freight,  therefore,  would  require 
three  million  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
tons  dead  weight  to  be  moved,  or  a  total  of  thir- 
teen million  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  tons 
gross  weight  moved  on  the  narrow  gauge  to  sixty 
million  on  the  wide  gauge. 

We  will  assume  that  the  narrow  gauge  trains 
each  weigh  150  tons  ;  it  would  require  then  nine- 
ty-one thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  trains 
each  year  to  handle  the  amount  of  freight  named, 
or  in  313  days  284  trains  per  day  ;  each  train  av- 
eraging 40  miles  per  day,  the  road  being  1,450 
miles  in  length,  there  would  be  an  average  of  36 
trains  distributable  over  the  road  daily  in  place  of 
21,  as  heretofore  stated.  This  number  divided  into 


61 

the  total  number  of  trains  per  day,  and  we  have 
an  average  of  eight  trains  every  24  hours  passing 
over  every  mile  of  the  road,  or  one  every  three 
hours,  if  the  trains  sustain  an  average  speed  of  25 
miles  per  hour,  one  train  follows  another  three 
hours  and  seventy-five  "miles  behind  the  preceding 
one. 

TABLE  OF  COMPARISON  OF  RESULTS. 


. 

Paying-  weight  ...............  10,000,000.  ..10,000,000 

Non-paying  weight  .........  50,000,000...   3,750,000 


60,000,000    23,750,000 

Speed 25  Miles.  25  Miles. 

Total  wt.  of  each  train...  250  Tons.  150  Tons. 

No.  Trains  per  day 767  284 

Length  of  road 1450  Miles.     1450  Miles. 

One  train  every 70  Minutes        3  Hrs. 

Distance  apart  in  min'ts.     70       "  180  Min. 

Do.      Trains  apart....     27  Miles.  75  Miles. 

SUPERIORITY  OF  THE  NARROW  GAUGE. 

From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  the  capacity 
of  the  3  ft.  gauge  for  freight  transportation  over 
the  standard  gauge  is  as  180  to  70,  and  that  in 
transporting  the  same  amounts  of  dead  weight  as 
the  wide  gauge,  viz :  fifty  million  tons,  the  narrow 
gauge  would  move  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  mil- 
lions tons  paying  weight  as  against  ten  million 


62 

tons  of  paying  weight  moved  on  the  standard 
gauge.  These  results  are  most  astonishing,  but  if 
carefully  examined  will  he  found  correct. 

HON.     H.      G.      STEBBINS,     VICE      PRESIDENT      SOUTHERN 
PACIFIC    RAILROAD. 

In  the  summing  up  of  the  able  article  written 
by  this  gentleman,  he  says  : 

"  To  sum  up  all,  the  narrow  gauge  system 
clearly  has  the  advantage  in  these  particulars. 
First — In  the  large  comparative  saving  in  first 
construction  'and  right  of  way.  Second — In  the 
larger  proportion  of  paying  load  to  non-paying 
weight  of  train.  Third — In  the  great  reduction 
in  wear  and  tear  of  permanent  way,  through  the 
advantage  gainedf  by  using  lighter  rolling  stock. 
Fourth — In  the  great  saving  in  the  reduced  wear 
and  tear  of  wheels  and  tires,  from  the  reduced 
weight  on  each  wheel.  Fifth — In  the  large  pro- 
portionate increased  power  of  locomotives  (from 
the  dead  weight  on  the  engines  being  used  as 
tractive  power.  Sixth — In  proportionate  increased 
velocities  gained  by  the  light  system.  Seventh — 
In  the  greater  economy  in  'working  traffic ;  and, 
Eighth — In  the  comparative  increase  in  the 
capacities  of  traffic." 


63 
DENVER   AND    RIO   GRANDE  RAILROAD. 

THREE    FT.    GAUGE. 

The  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railroad  Company 
is  practically  demonstrating  the  superiority  of  the 
new  system  over  the  old,  by  having  undertaken  to 
construct  a'  3  ft.  gauge  road  over  the  almost  en- 
tirely undeveloped  country  lying  between  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  and  the  Rio  Grande,  a  dis- 
tance of  850  miles  and  upwards. 

Eighty  miles  of  this  road  is  in  successful  opera- 
tion from  Denver  to  Colorado  City,  built  at  a  cost 
not  to  exceed  $13,500  per  mile,  and  fully  equipped. 

The  engines  adopted  by  the  company  are  of  the 
same  pattern  as  the  standard  engines  on  the 
Pennsylvania  roads,  with  slight  modifications. 

The  passenger  engines  have  four  drivers,  40  in. 
diameter,  and  one  pair  of  leading  wheels  ;  cylin- 
ders 9  by  16  inches  ;  weight  on  drivers  in  steain 
25,000  pounds,  with  four-wheeled  tender  weigh- 
ing 6,000  pounds  empty. 

Freight  engines  have  six  driving  wheels 
coupled,  and  one  pair  leading  wheels,  cylinders 
10  by  16  inches  ;  weight  on  drivers  30,000  pounds  ; 
total  weight,  35,000  pounds  ;  tender  weighs  $6,000 
pounds  empty. 

In  the  construction  of  the  passenger  cars  there 
has  evidently  been  too  much  deference  paid  to 
the  prejudices  in  favor  of  the  existing  patterns,  to 


64 

obtain  the  full  benefits  of  the  narrow  gauge 
system. 

They  are  of  the  following  dimensions  : 

Length^  35  ft. ;  over  all,  40  ft. ;  width  inside, 
6i  ft. ;  outside,  7  ft.;  hight  above  rail  of  floor 
beams,  2  ft.  3  in.  ;  hight  to  top  dome,  10  ft.  6  in.; 
hight  centre  gravity,  3  ft.  2  in.;  angle  of  stability, 
58  deg.  30  min.;  weight,  13,000  pounds. 

Some  of  these  cars  are  handsomely  furnished  in 
the  style  of  the  Pullman  car,  and  give  the  same 
seating  room  as  the  cars  on  the  Pennsylvania 
road.  They  are  thoroughly  ventilated  and  com- 
fortable, and  eight  wheeled,  with  an  arrangement 
of  springs  which  makes  them  easy*on  the  track. 
They  weigh  13,000  pounds— 6 i  tons. 

Freight  cars  are  made  of  the  present  pattern, 
are  four  wheeled  and  weigh  about  4,000  pounds, 
with  a  carrying  capacity  of  10,000  pounds,  or  5 
tons. 

A  special  corresbondent  of  the  Omaha  Herald, 
writing  from  Colorado  Springs,  December  24th? 
says : 

"NARROW  GAUGE. 

"  The  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railway  (narrow 
gauge)  remains  open,  notwithstanding  the  snow. 
It  has  not  yet  failed  a  single  day  in  getting  a 
train  through  between  this  place  and  Denver, 
although  it  crosses  "the  great  Divide,"  next  to  the 


65 

highest  road  pass  in  the  world,  and  200  feet  higher 
than  the  Sierra  Nevadas  on  the  Central  Pacific. 
The  3  ft.  gauge  is  a  complete  success.  The  earn- 
ings of  the  first  division  of  seventy-six  miles  of 
the  road  have  averaged  $3,000  weekly,  about  half 
for  freight  and  half  for  passengers,  in  the  seven 
weeks  of  almost  continuous  snow  storms  since  its 
opening.  The  freight  traffic  offering,  however,  is 
double  what  the  company  can  carry.  They  have 
ordered  their  rolling  stock  trebled  immediately, 
and  when  this  additional  equipment  arrives  they 
will  have  eleven  locomotives  and  220  freight  cars. 
The  road  will  reach  Pueblo,  120  miles  from  Den- 
ver, in  March  next,  and  Canon  City  by  next 


COMPARISON  BETWEEN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  AND  DENVER 
RAILROADS. 

The  standard  passenger  engine  on  the  Pennsyl- 
vania road  weighs  40,000  Ibs.  (double  that  of  the 
Denver  road)  and  a  total  weight  of  105,000  Ibs.,  or 
52i  tons.  The  usual  load  of  passenger  trains  con- 
sists of 

TONS. 

4  Pass,  cars  seating  53  passengers    each  and 

weighing ' " 

1  Baggage  car 1 

Engine  and  Tender 52$ 

Total...  142* 


66 

This  train  will  accommodate  212  passengers,  if 
full. 

The  same  number  of  passengers  on  the  Denver 
road  require 

TONS. 

6  Passenger  cars,  weighing 42i 

1  Baggage  car 4 

Engine  and  Tender 15£ 


Total 61 

Or  less  i\\&i\  fort/j-five-hiindrcdtlis  the  weight  of  the 
standard  train  to  do  the  same  business. 

Sleeping  cars,  as  comfortable  in  every  respect  as 
on  the  standard  gauge,  can  be  used  on  the  road 
without  difficulty. 

In  the  freight  train  the  comparison  is  about  as 
follows : 


LBS.  LB8.        TOSS.  1OXS. 

Freight  En-?,  standard  gauge ....  60,000         1 14,000  574  14 10 

Denver  &  Rio  Gr.,nde,  3  ft/guuge.30.000          41.000204  122 

Of  this  load  on  full  gauge  road  the  proportionate 
weight  of  cars  being  1  to  1  of  freight,  there  is 

TONS. 
Weight  of  cars 720 

Of  freight 720 

On  the   3  ft  gauge  the  proportionate  weight  of 
car  to  load  is  1  to  2i  of  freight  /  we  have 

TONS. 

Weight  of  cars 206 

Of  freight 618 

Or  nearly  nine-tenths  of  the  paying  weight  hauled 
by  the  large  engine. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  LETTERS 

By  J.  D.  Hoff  to  General   C.  B.  Stuart,  Consulting 
Engineer,  New  York,  dated  Denver  Dec.  8th,  71. 

Mr.  Huff  visited  this  road  in  company  with 
company  with  other  distinguished  scientists  from 
the  Atlantic  States  during  the  late  snow  storms  in 
December,  and  witnessed  the  progress  of  a  train 
of  fifteen  cars  on  a  small  engine  of  10 1  tons  :  He 
says  : 

"  I  found  the  heaviest  grades  65  ft.  per  mile  and 
the  sharpest  curves  9  degrees.  The  length  to  Col- 
orado City  is  26  miles ;  total  cost,  $13,500  per 
mile. 

The  Kansas  Pacific  railway,  built  by  the  same 
engineer,  General  Greenwood,  cost  $24,000  per 
mile,  and  the  difference  in  grading  is  in  favor  of 
the  latter  rood.  The  largest  locomotive  weighs 
20i  tons. 

The  passenger  cars  seat  34  passengers  as  com- 
i  n-tabiy  u.-  any  cars  in  this  territory,  and,  with  two 
closets  and  stove,  weigh  only  13,000  Ibs.  Their 
freight  cars  weigh  3,500  Ibs.,  and  carry  a  load  of 
10,000  Ibs.  when  full,  or  nearly  three  pourtds  of  lnn<1 
to  one  of  car.  One  ton  of  coal  runs  a  train  <  >f. »/•-//- 
tif-fice  ton*  of  freight  eiglittf  miles  in  four  hours.  Their 
books  show  that  the  round  trip  of  152  miles  costs 
about//?//  dollars  ;  or  2£  tons  one  mile  for  one  cent. 
The  trains  went  through  the  deep  snow,  beating 
all  the  other  roads  this  winter. 


68 

The  divide  over  which  the  train  runs  is  7,000 
feet  above  tide  water,  and  while  the  U.  P.  and  the 
K.  P.  roads  in  the  same  territory  have  been  block- 
aded for  weeks  at  a  time,  this  little  road  had  not 
lost  a  trip  up  to  the  middle  of  December,  and  was 
never  more  than  two  hours  behind  time  on  any 
trip  during  the  winter. 

ORANGEVILLE    RAILROAD. 

The  Orangeville  Advertiser,  C;inada,  in  speaking 
of  the  Toronto  &  Bruce  narrow  gauge  says : 

"The  amount  of  goods  which  is  brought  is 
truly  surprising,  and  the  number  of  passengers 
travelling  both  ways  is  also  very  Jarge.  The  fact 
is,  the  railroad  is  a  great  success  ;  having  gone  to 
Toronto  and  back  on  the  line  the  bresent  week, 
we  were  agreeably  surprised  at  the  comfort  of  the 
journey.  We  have  heard  a  good  deal  of  the  "nar- 
row gauge,"  the  "  wheelbarrow  railway,"  but  let 
anybody  get  into  the  cars  without  being  told  any- 
thing about  narrow  gauges,  and  we  venture  to  say 
that  he  wonld  not  observe  the  difference  between 
it  and  any  other  railway.  The  cars  are  seated  in 
the  same  way  as  the  wide  gauge,  each  seat  accom- 
modating two  comfortably  ;  the  track,  too,  is  very 
smooth. 

RUSSIAN  SYSTEM. 

The  system  of  roads  in  this  "country  have  been 
reduced  from  6  ft.  and  under  to  the  present  stand- 


69 

nrd  of  3  ft.  6  in.,  carrying  regulorly  354  tons  of 
train,  exclusive  of  engine  and  tender,  on  grades  of 
1  in  85,  some  of  which  are  five  miles  long.  Total 
freight  carried  per  annum,  376,430  tons;  total 
number  of  passengers  carried  per  annum,  189,762, 
at  a  cost  of  H  cent  per  mile,  and  freight  at  2  cts. 
per  mile. 

HORATIO  SEYMOUR  ON  NARROW  GAUGE. 

First— Th:it  a  3  ft.  gauge  can  be  built  fur  60 
per  cent,  of  the  cost  of  the  standard  gauge,  and 
cost  but  one-half  to  run  it. 

Second — That- the  Festinoig  railroad  in  1868 
carried  130,000  tons  of  freight  and  145,000  pas- 
sengers, and  only  13  miles  in  length,  while  the 
Syracuse  and  Binghamton  road,  81  miles  long, 
only  carried  424,537  tons  and  245,577  passengers, 
and  the  Black  River  and  Utica  road  carried  100,- 
111  passengers  and  25,403  tons  of  freight,  and  86 
miles  in  length ;  while  the  Ullinbord  road  in  Swe- 
den, 23  miles  long  and  3  ft.  7  in.  gauge,  carried 
100,000  passengers  and  150,000  tons  freight  with 
12-ton  locomotives  and  a  speed  of  35  miles  per 
hour. 

Thirdly— That  the  narrow  gauge  system  will 
not  cost  over  two-fifths  the  present,  and  fully  meet 
all  the  requirements  of  the  largest  business  of  any 
road  in  the  country. 


70 

CONCLUSIONS  OF  MR.  SPOONER  ON  FES- 
TINOIG  AND  THREE  FT.  GAUGE. 

First — That  through  the  whole  time  he  has  had 
the  control  of  the  Festinoig  railroad  it  has  entirely 
demonstrated  the  theory  of  the  immense  saving 
on  the  narrow  gauge  system :  in  having  carried 
more  freight  and  passengers  at  less  cost  than  any 
line  of  railway  now  in  use  ;  that  it  is  almost  free 
from  oscillation  ;  that  it  has  withstood  the  severest 
wind  storms  in  the  country  without  being  af- 
fected ;  that  the  cars  can  run  at  35  miles  per  hour 
with  perfect  safety  ;  that  the  wear  and  tear  of 
rolling  stock  and  rails  is  reduced  to  an  absolute 
minimum. 

Secondly — That  a  2  ft.  9  in.  to  3  ft.  gauge  meets 
the  only  objection  that  can  now  be  raised  against 
a  narrow  gauge,  and  that  all  the  requirements  of 
commerce  can  be  fully  transacted  by  lines  built  on 
that  gauge  ;  that  they  can  be  built  for  from  one- 
fourth  to  two-fifths  of  the  cost  of  the  standard 
gauge  through  the  same  section  of  country,  and 
can  be  maintained  at  not  to  exceed  one-half  of  the 
cost  of  the  present  system  to  do  the  same  busi- 
ness. 

MR.  FAIRLIE  ON  A  SYSTEM  OF  RAILROADS 
FOR  INDIA  IN  1871. 

The  gauge  established  by  law  for  that  portion 
of  the  Dominion  is  5  ft.  6  in.  in  width,  which  is 
now  changed  to  3  ft.  and  2  ft.  9  in. 


71 

The  arguments  that  contributed  largely  to  the 
change  were  advanced  by  Mr.  Fairly,  in  which  he 
proved  his  case  by  taking  the  London  and  North- 
western Railroad,  in  England,  the  business  of 
which  being  the  largest  in  that  country,  and  be- 
cause its  management  is  such  that  any  shortcom- 
ings in  its  operation  is  wholly  due  to  its  construc- 
tion and  not  to  its  management,  and  proceeds  to 
show  that  if  its  gauge  had  been  3  ft.  instead  of 
4  ft.  8i,  its  gross  traffic  could  have  been  done  at 
one-half  its  present  cost,  with  half  the  motive 
power,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  reduce  the  tonnage 
over  the  road  one-half,  and  remove  the  necessity 
of  the  heavy  expense  that  is  incurred  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  third  line  of  rail.  He  says  : 

"  The  goods  and  mineral  trrffic  on  the  L.  &  N. 
W.  road  for  a  single  year  amounted  to  15  million 
tons.  I  will  assume  that  from  out  of  the  15  mil- 
lion tons  5  are  minerals  consisting  chiefly  of  coal, 
and  deal  only  with  goods  which  are  left  as  the  net 
revenue  of  the  year's  business. 

"  It  has  been  proven  that  the  proportion  of  non- 
paying  to  paying  load  is  about  7  to  1 ;  this  would 
give  70  million  tons  of  rolling  weight  employed  in 
carrying  ten  million  tons  of  paying  load,  or,  in  or- 
der to  avoid  all  risk  of  exaggeration,  I  will  assume 
the  dead  weight  to  be  only  as  four  to  one  ;  this  re- 
duces from  seventy  to  forty  million  weight  of 
wagons  employed  to  carry  the  ten  million  tons  of 


72 

paying  load.  The  whole  gross  load  will  then  he 
fifty  million  tons  hauled  at  an  average  speed  of  25 
miles  per  hour. 

"  The  earnings  of  the  goods  traffic  on  this  line 
sre  6s  3d  (currency  $1.50)  per  train  mile  run, 
which  at  an  average  rate  all  round  of  12d  per  ton 
per  mile  would  give  about  50  tons  as  paying- 
weight  and  255  tons  as  gross  weight  hauled  per 
train  mile  (Russian  road  345.)  Dividing  this  255 
tons  into  the  50  millions  gives  196,078  trains ;  di- 
viding this  by  313  working  days  in  a  year,  gives 
626  merchandise  trains  on  all  parts  of  the  road  in 
24  hours.  This  makes  the  average  distance  trav- 
eled by  each  ton  to  be  about  38  miles ;  so  that  as 
each  ton  of  the  total  weight  hauled  runs  38  miles, 
and  the  entire  length  of  the  road  is  1450 
miles,  it  follows  that  there  must  be  on  an  average 
37  merchandise  trains  distributed  over  the  total 
length.  This  number  divided  into  the  total  num- 
ber of  trains  per  day  of  24  hours  gives  an  average 
of  over  17  trains  per  day  passing  over  each  mile 
of  road.  My  object  in  bringing  the  figures  to  this 
point  is  to  show  that  although  at  first  sight  the 
number  of  626  trains  per  day  looks  large  yet  when 
divided  over  the  entire  line  is  comparatively 
small. 

Having  arrived  at  this  conclusion,  we  are  in  a 
position  to  see  how  it  would  affect  the  question  if 
the  gauge  was  3  ft.  instead  of  4  ft.  8 £  inches. 


73 

In  the  first  place,  the  same  or  a  greater  speed 
can  be  obtained,  say  up  to  35  or  40  miles  per  hour. 

The  speeds  in  each  case  therefore  being  equal, 
the  next  point  to  examine  is  the  result  of  the  car- 
rying on  the  narrow  gauge.  The  proportion  of 
non-paying  to  paying  load  has  been  reduced  from 
7  to  1,  to  4  to  1,  although  the  former  is  the  actual 
proportion.  The  wagons  employed  average  four 
tons  in  weight,  so  that  each  wagon  carries  one  ton 
for  every  mile  it  runs. 

The  wagons  on  a  3  ft.  gauge  weigh  each  a  ton 
and  carry  a  maximum  load  of  three  tons.  Sup- 
posing that  the  same  number  run  on  the  narrow 
as  on  the  broad  gauge  it  follows  that  the  average 
ton  of  merchandise  now  carried  would  easily  be 
carried  in  a  wagon  weighing  one  ton  instead  of 
four  tons,  and  that  the  gross  load  passing  over  the 
line  for  one  year  would  be  only  twenty  millions  of 
tons  instead  of  fifty,  while  the  same  amount  of 
paying  weight  would  be  carried  in  either  case; 
that  is,  the  small  wagons,  which  are  capable  of 
carrying  three  times  the  weight  of  goods  now 
actually  carried  on  a  four  ton  wagon  would  only 
have  to  carry  one-third  of  that  quantity,  and 
produce  the  same  paying  load  as  the  heavier  wag- 
ons ;  thus,  instead  of  fifty  million  tons  travelling 
over  the  line  there  would  only  be  twenty  millions, 
and  as  the  handling  costs  the  same,  whether  pay- 
ing or  non-paying,  it  follows  that  the  expense 
would  be  reduced  two-fifties  of  what  it  now  is. 


74 

We  must  also  consider  the  enormous  saving  in 
permanent  way  which  would  have  to  bear  the 
friction  and  weight  of  twenty  millions  tons  instead 
of  fifty  millions.  If  we  assume  the  same  number 
of  trains  per  day,  the  weight  of  each  would  be  re- 
duced from  255  tons  to  102  tons  ;  or  it'  the  same 
gross  weight  was  employed,  the  number  of  trains 
per  day  would  be  reduced  from  626  to  250.  If 
there  should  be  sufficient  traffic  to  load  the  nar- 
row gauge  cars  in  such  a  way  as  to  require  the 
same  number  and  weight  of  trains  that  are  now 
worked,  the  result  would  be  that — without  increas- 
ing the  cost  of  hauling  or  permanent  way  ex- 
penses— the  3  ft.  gauge  would  carry  a  load  of 
twenty-five  millions  tons  as  against  the  ten  mil- 
lions now  carried. 

Now,  then,  we  have  established  the  fact  that  so 
far  as  capacity  goes,  the  narrow  gauge  is  superior 
to  the  wide  gauge. 

The  former  can  produce  25  millions  net  out  of 
50  millions  tons,  while  the  latter,  to  produce  the 
same  result,  if  continued  to  be  worked  as  it  is  now, 
would  require  that  125  millions  tons  should  be 
hauled,  at  an  increased  cost  in  the  same  proportion 
of  125  millions-  to  50  millions. 

The  gauge  now  established  by  law  in  India  is  2 
ft.  9  in.,  to  be  so  arranged  as  to  use  the  5  ft.  6  in. 
machinery  until  new  narrow  gauge  machinery  may 
be  required." 


75 
THE  ULLENBORG  ROAD  IN  SWEDEN. 

GAUGE  3  FT.  7  IN. LENGTH  37  MILES. 

This  road  reports  a  business  of  220,000  passen- 
gers and  327,000  tons  of  freight  per  annum,  car- 
ried at  per  passenger  2^  cents  per  mile,  and  for 
freight  at  2  j  cents  per  mile  per  ton,  at  speed  of  35 
miles  per  hour,  with  a  12  ton  locomotive,  revenue 
about  15  per  ct.  per  annum. 

Major  AdeUkold,  State  Engineer  of  Sweden, 
says : 

"  In  every  case  where  small  gauge  railroads  have 
been  built  they  have  realized  every  expectation, 
and  I  deem  it  a  waste  of  money  to  build  broader 
gauge  when  a  narrow  and  cheaper  gauge  will 
meet  all  the  requirements  of  the  business  of  the 
country. 

SPECIAL  CONCLUSIONS  FROM  THE  ROADS  ALREADY  BUILT. 
FESTINOIG    RAILWAY 13£  MILES,  23£  IN  GAUGE. 

The  results  of  operations  of  this  road  are 

Passengers  transported  yearly,  140,000  passen- 
gers at  1  ct.  per  mile. 

Freight  hauled,  500,000  tons  at  i  ct.  per  ton. 

Original  cost,  $180,000. 

Present  value,  $500,000. 

Interest  on  original  investment,  40  per  ct.  per 
annum. 


76 

Interest  011  present  value,  23  per  ct.  per  annum. 
Maximum  gradients,  1  in  67. 

Curves,  132  ft.  radius. 
Weight  of  Engines,  10  to  19i  tons. 
Proportion    of   non-paying   passenger   traffic,  £ 
ton  per  passenger. 

Proportion  of  paying  to  non-paying  freight,  3  to 
1  per  ton. 

Freight  cars  1,344  Ibs.,  carrying  3£  tons. 

.  THE  LAREN  ROAD  IN  NORWAY. 

GAUGE    3    FT.    7  LN. LENGTH    73    MILES. 

Cconstructed  by  Mr.  Pihl  at  a  cost  of  $25,000 
per  mile.  Reports  annual  income  of  15  per  cent, 
on  the  cost,  at  3  cents  per  passenger  per  mile,  and 
2|  cents  per  ton  per  mile.  Locomotives,  18  tons, 
grades,  1  in  62  ;  curves,  237  ft.  radius,  speed,  35 
miles  per  hour. 

The  Hfimer  road  in  Norway,  30  in.  gauge,  con- 
structed by  Mr.  Pihl  at  a  cost  of  $15,000  per  mile. 
Rails  30  Ibs.  per  yard,  locomotives  12  to  20  tons, 
grades  1  in  80,  and  curves  400  ft.  radius,  at  3  cents 
per  mile  per  passenger,  and  2^  cents  freight  per 
mile  carried  ;  annual  dividends,  nearly  17  per  ct. 
Speed  26  miles  per  hour. 

Cpst  of  standard  gauge  in  the  same  country, 
$32,000  per  mile,  pays  at  same  rate  of  charges 
less  than  8  per  cent,  per  annum. 


77 
SOUTHERN  PACIFIC  RAILROAD. 

WHAT    CAN    BE    DONE   THERE. 

We  will  now  take  the  statistics  of  the  S.  F.  & 
8.  J.  R.  R.  Co.  We  will  suppose  that  this  com- 
pany runs  two  passenger  trains  per  day  each  way 
with  four  passenger  cars  each,  the  average  weight 
of  each  train  will  be  as  follows : 

TONS. 

Locomotive  and  Tender 32 

6  Pastcnger  Cars,  light 60 

27  Passengers  to  each  162  Pass 12$ 

Baggage  Car  and  Load 114 

Express  Car  and  Load 124 

Total 1284 

Average  weight  on  a  3  ft.  gauge  to  do  the  same 
business : 

TONS. 

Locomotive  and  Tender 10 

9  Passenger  Cars  carrying  18  Passengers  each 

and  weighing  4tons  each 36 

162  Passengers 124 

Baggage  Car  and  Load 24 

Express  Car  and  Load 24 


Total 634 

Or  less    than   one-half  the  train  load  that  is  now 
carried. 

It   will  be    seen   that   of  these  two  trains  the 
passenger  weight  of  124  tons,  and  their  baggage 


78 

H,  and  the  express  matter  of  about  half  a  ton, 
amounting  to  14i  in  all,  is  the  paying  freight  of 
the  whole  train,  which  weighs  128i  tons.  The 
proportion,  therefore,  is  nearly  8  tons  of  non- 
paying  weight  to  one  ton  of  paying  weight. 

While  in  the  3  ft.  gauge  train  we  have  the  14i 
tons  of  paying  weight,  as  before,  to  63i  tons  total 
train  weight  hauled,  or  less  than  If  tons  of  dead 
weight  to  one  ton  of  paying  weight. 

Apply  the  same  system  of  construction  to  the 
freight  business,  and  let  us  see  what  is  the  result : 
The  capacity  of  a  ten  ton  engine  on  the  grades 

of  this  road  would  be 295  tons 

Deduct  engine  and  tender 19  " 


Leaves  for  load 276  tons 

Cars  carry  10  tons  and  weigh  2  tons,  and  to  carry 

276  tons  would  require   27   cars  at  2  tons  each  ; 

leaving  for  paying  load,  222  tons. 

We    have    222    tons    of    paying    load    to    54 

tons  of  cars,  or  over  4  tons  of  paying  load  to  one 

ton  dead  weight. 

SAN  FRANCISCO  AND  SAN  JOSE  RAILROAD  FREIGHT. 

We  will  suppose  the  standard  gauge  freight 
engines  on  the  San  Francisco  and  San  Jose  Rail- 
road has  double  the  weight  on  the  drivers  and 
double  the  hauling  capacity,  or  590  tons ;  deduct 
engine  and  tender,  40  tons  ;  leaving  load,  550  tons. 


79 

The  freight  ears  weigh  from  8  to  10  tons,  and 
carry  10  tons.  One  half  will  then  be  cars,  275 
tons  ;  leaving  freight,  275  tout*. 

This  shows  that  the  small  engine  and  cars  of 
the  3  ft.  gauge  has  a  hauling  capacity  of  224  tons 
for  a  19  ton  engine,  against  275  torus  on  the 
present  road  for  a  40  ton  engine,  or  over  two  to 
one  of  hauling  capacity. 

Follow  this  to  its  financial  conclusions,  we  have 
the  following  result : 

Passenger  traffic  on  one  train  per  day  each  way, 
324  passengers  carried  50  miles  per  day,  16,200 
miles  ;  or  per  year,  carried  one  mile,  5,913,000 
miles.  Total  cost  transporting  passengers  at 
2  {go  cents  per  mile,  $141,912. 

ON   THE   THREE-FOOT    GAUGE, 

With  he  proportions  of  8-lf,  we  have  of 
the  above  business,  total  miles  run  as  above, 
5,913,000  ;  total  cost,  $31,043  ;  leaving  a  saving 
of  $110,869— or  about  one-fifth  of  the  present 
rates  of  charge,  which  would  be  50  cents  from 
here  to  San  Jose. 

The  saving  to  the  farm  produce  and  of  freight 
would  equal  or  exceed  the  passenger  traffic  in  the 
.same  proportion,  as  the  passenger  machinery  and 
rolling,  stock  recedes  in  weight  from  that  of  freight 
machinery  and  rolling  stock. 


80 
GENERAL  RESULTS. 

It  will  be  admitted  that  the  chief  difficulty  in 
building  railroads  anywhere  is  their  cost.  This 
difficulty  hinders  the  building  of  many  roads  that 
would  pay  if  they  were  built. 

The  present  standard  gauge  railroads  in  the 
United  States  have  cost  about  $44.000  per  mile, 
the  construction  of  which  has  created  an  indebted- 
ness of  nearly  2,200  millions  dollars  (exclusive  of 
stock  subscription)  which  at  7  per  cent,  interest 
per  annum  involves  the  annual  payment  of  154 
millions  dollars  which  the  commerce  of  the  coun- 
try is  compelled  to  pay.  If  the  present  system  is 
not  changed,  and  the  bond  list  increases  in  the 
next  ten  years  us  it  has  in  the  last,  this  indebted- 
ness will  amount  to  probably  not  less  than  3,500 
millions  dollars,  with  an  annual  tax  on  transporta- 
tion of  245  millions  dollars. 

The  change  that  is  proposed  will  build  roads  that 
have  an  equal  capacity,  both  for  freight  and  passen- 
ger, and  upon  which  equally  fast  time  can  be 
made,  for  less  than  40  per  cent.;  and  when  built 
can  be  maintained  at  not  to  exceed  one-third  of 
the  expenses  of  the  present  system.  Thus  two  of 
the  most  formidable  objections  in  the  way  of  con- 
struction of  railroads  in  sparsely  settled  countries 
would  be  removed — that  of  an  exorbitant  cost  and 
an  expensive  system  of  management.  There  is 


81 

scarcely  a  county  in  this  State  that  could  not  af- 
ford to  build  a  small  gauge  railroad  wherever  a 
good  public  highway  was  necessary.  Even  the 
lines  already  occupying  our  principal  avenues  of 
business  would  find  it  necessary  to  change  the 
present  standard  or  be  compelled  to  reduce  their 
charges  to  such  low  rates  as  not  to  be  able  to  pay 
running  expenses. 

The  cutting  arid  filling  of  the  road  bed,  will  not 
be  over  one-half  through  a  country  of  an  ordinary 
even  surface,  curves  can  be  used  and  successfully 
operated  as  sharp  as  200  ft.  radius,  and  thereby 
reduce  the  cost  of  construction  in  a  heavy  country 
to  less  than  tiventy-five  per  cent,  of  what  a  standard 
(jauge  can  be  built  for  in  those  countries. 

The  cost  of  permanent  structure  can  be  reduced 
at  least  one-third  ;  ties  to  two-thirds.  The  rails 
will  be  reduced  from  80  Ibs.  per  yard,  to  25  and  30, 
and  their  durability  increased,  from  five  years  to 
at  least  fifteen,  with  the  same  business. 

The  locomotives  can  be  reduced  in  weight  from 
20  and  60  tons,  to  6  and  15  tons,  made  on  patterns 
suitable  to  the  changed  gauge. 

The  cars  will  be  reduced  from  16  and  30  tons  to 
4  and  6  i  tons,  while  the  freight  cars  can  be  re- 
duced from  6  and  14  tons,  to  1  and  2i  tons. 

The  buildings  can  be  reduced  in  proportion. 
Turn-tables  and  all  fixtures  can  be  reduced  at  least 
three-fifths. 


82 

This  system  of  roads  can  be  constructed 
in  one-half  the  time  required  to  construct  the 
present  system,  and  return  interest  proportionately 
enhanced. 

The  princtpal  cost  of  maintaining  a  road  de- 
pends upon  the  weight  the  road  bed  has  to  carry  to 
do  its  business,  the  proportion  being  as  three  to 
one  of  all  other  expenses.  This  is  reduced  in  pas- 
senger traffic  from  1  ton  and  3|  tons  dead  weight 
for  each  passenger;  and  of  freight,  from  7 
tons  dead  weight  to  one  ton  paying  weight,  on 
the  standard  gauge  ;  to  one-quarter  of  a  ton  dead 
weight  for  passengers ;  and  to  one-third  ton  of  dead 
weight  to  1  ton  to  paying  weight  for  the  proposed 
narrow  gauge  system. 

The  present  system  as  a  result,  has  given  over 
60,000  miles  of  railroads,  on  which  we  are  obliged 
to  carry  at  least  6  tons  of  carriages  to  one  ton  of 
freight,  and  from  10  to  30  tons  of  carriage  for  one 
ton  of  passengers,  costing  for  its  transportation 
two  hundred  millions  dollars  annually  on  bonds 
more  than  is  necessary,  and  getting  in  return  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  we  are  expending 
millions  yearly  in  manufacturing  rolling  stock  for 
the  special  purpose  only  of  wearing  out  the  rails  it 
runs  on  ;  while  the  practical  result  of  the  proposed 
change  will  be,  economy  in  coustruction  and  oper- 
ation, cheap  fretghts,  large  dividends,  adaptability 
to  other  than  mountainous  countries,  feasibility  of 


83 

doubling  the  number  of  miles  of  our  railway  sys- 
tems at  one-third  of  the  former  outly,  the  easy  de- 
velopment of  sparsely  settled  but  valuable  districts 
and  the  long  train  of  advantages,  which  is  sure  to 
follow  to  the  stockholders  who  invest  in  those 
roads,  as  well  as  to  the  people  who  will  by  their 
agency  be  induced  to  occupy  our  unsettled  regions. 
And  above  all,  and  before  all,  other  considerations, 
they  will  constitute  a  means  through  which  exist- 
ing lines  of  standard  gauge  roads  will  be  compelled 
to  respect  the  convenience  and  necessities  of  the 
public,  in  reduction  of  freights  and  charges,  from 
six  cents  a  mile  per  passenger  to  less  than  two, 
and  from  ten  cents  per  ton  for  freight,  to  at  least 
one-third  that  amount. 


84 


Extract  from  the  Reports  of  the  Joint  Committee 
of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts, 
March  11,  1871- 

Estimated  cost  of  building  one  mile  of  narrow 
gauge  railroad,  where  the  fills  and  cuts  are  4  feet : 

Rails $  4,243 

Ties, 352 

Spikes 175 

Fish  Joints,  Bars  and  Bolts 400 

Laying  Track 250 

Embankments,  6,062  yards 1.513 

Cuts,  5,629  yards ." 1.480 

Rock  Cut,  1,611  yards , 1,611 

Ballast,  1,000  yards 1,000 

Sidings 200 

Masonry  and  Bridges 1,140 


Total $12,364 

Estimate  of  same  road,  with  similar  grades  and 
alignment,  of  a  4  ft.  8|  in.  gauge. 

Rails $  6,600 

Ties 924 

Spikes 264 

Fish  Joints,  Bars  and  Bolts 700 

Laying  Track 325 

Embankment,  8,604  yards 2,151 

Excavations,  11,703  yards 1,927 

Rock  Cuts,  2,085  yards 2,085 

Ballast 2,000 

Sidings 334 

Masonry  and  Bridges 2,000 


Total $19,301 


85 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


JAM  11 1958 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CAU# 

AT 

S  ANGELES 
TJBRARY 


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